


Typical Stereotypes

by CassieJTrait



Category: Fairy Tail
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Bully, Cheating, Cussing, F/M, I mean it's Natsu so of course, It gets better I swear, It took me years to write this and my writing style changes drastically, Lisanna's a bad guy, Lucy is a nerd, My First Fanfic, Nalu - Freeform, Natsu is dating Lisanna in the beginning, Natsu is popular, Non-Consensual Touching, Orphan - Freeform, Sharing a Bed, Sleepovers, Some Abuse, Sting's a bad guy, Suggestive Themes, Underage Drinking, You can physically see the difference, assigned partners for English project, but nothing major or too graphic, don't be too hard on me, hiding in a closet, please read and review, slow-is burn
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-06-03
Updated: 2020-07-28
Packaged: 2021-03-04 05:26:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 18
Words: 72,896
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24518389
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CassieJTrait/pseuds/CassieJTrait
Summary: Natsu is your everyday jock. The guy everyone likes; girls want him, guys wish to be him.Lucy is your typical nerd. She has straight A's her nose always stuck in a book.They're just your typical stereotypes.But what happens when the popular man on campus and the geek have to work together for an English project? Maybe their typical stereotypes aren't so...typical.High School AU
Relationships: Natsu Dragneel/Lucy Heartfilia
Comments: 4
Kudos: 50





	1. Prologue: Lucy

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Just a typical morning for Lucy

_Lucy's POV_

  
_Sigh_ "Why can't the guys from my books be real?" I ask laying my head on the desk.  
  
"What are you doing?" Levy laughs.  
  
"What do you mean?! I can't concentrate cause I'm in love with a fictional character!" I all but yell.  
  
Levy just stares at me and continues to giggle.  
  
"It's not funny! The heroine in all of my stories always gets these smart, amazing -not to mention HOT- guys. And I'm stuck here with..." taking a quick look around, I see three guys in the classroom. The first guy is smelling his armpit, another one is snoring loudly and drooling all over his table, and the last guy is drawing inappropriate things on the desk. "...with these apes." I say, sighing again.  
  
"Aww, come on Lucy. Don't be like that. Who knows maybe your prince charming will come through that door at any moment."  
  
"Yeah right! No one I've ever met at this school has even come close to reaching the standards of prince charming. They're either jerks, punks, or... just... plain creepy."  
  
The bell rings before Levy can counter argue my statement. Shaking her head, Levy moves to her seat at the front of the classroom.  
  
I love that girl, but sometimes she has her head in the clouds for too long and doesn't face reality.  
  
Getting out my binder and waiting for the class to begin, I see the 'popular' kids come through the door. Oh, yes the preps, the jocks and cheerleaders, the idols of the school, the ones everyone wants to be... how they annoy the hell out me. Why they act like they're better than everyone will forever escape my knowledge. Not only that but they have to pick on people to make themselves feel important.  
  
Watching them, it’s obvious they pick on others often. The way it all looks so natural to them. The nerdy-looking guy in the front of the room, a couple of seats away from Levy was just minding his own business, doing homework or something when they had to go up to him and mess with his things. Stealing his glasses, his homework, and pulling his hoodie over his face.  
  
I don't know why they have to act like that, no other group of people say or do the things they do. Not the geeks, drama kids, anime dorks, punks, sports junkies; none of them pick on people, so why do the popular kids?  
  
And it all comes down to the ring leaders. Lisanna and Natsu.  
  
Lisanna, of course, is the Queen of the school ruling right next to her King, Natsu.  
  
However, everyone knows the Queen has frequent affairs with the King's right-hand man, the Knight, Sting.  
  
No one will say it aloud though cause they fear the wrath of the Queen, who can and will bury you. When I think about it, I do feel bad for Natsu, but then I see the way he treats people and that sympathy disappears.  
  
The Queen and the King are made for each other, let them rot from all the praise they get from the ridiculous Court who follow them around and encourage their behavior.  
  
They usually just pick on some random kid for a day and then move on to the next victim, but sometimes they’ll find one person to torment and won’t leave them alone... which is exactly what happened to me.  
  


_Flashback- Story telling time_  
It was Freshman year, about halfway through the first semester. By then everyone knew about Lisanna and to stay away from her unless you wanted to commit social suicide. Which is exactly what I did.  
  
It was during lunch in the cafeteria. Everyone was there, all eating their lunches, chatting with each other about mindless stuff like a test next period or whatever they watched on T.V. the night before.  
  
That's when Lisanna and her gang walked in. They started scanning the area for an easy target to pick on. Just a typical, everyday occurrence.  
But there was just something off about that day. I just couldn't stand by and watch anymore.  
  
When Lisanna finally settled her eyes on a girl sitting alone, I froze. I recognized her from my English class. She constantly had her nose in a book, like me. She seemed like a good person, I nearly went up to talk to her at least a million times, but my nerves always got the better of me and I would chicken out.  
  
As Lisanna made her way to the girl, I jumped out of my seat. As I neared them I heard Lisanna say, "Hey." Really sweetly, like the word she said was dripping with sugar.  
  
The girl looked up surprised and smiled shyly at her and replied with a meek little, "Hi," back.  
  
Lisanna laughed turning to her faithful followers, making them all laugh in turn, as she said loud enough for the surrounding area to hear, "Aw, how pathetic! She actually thinks I want to talk to her, Hahaha"  
  
The girl deflated and had a look of pure sadness on her face. And if that wasn't enough to make you feel bad for her, Lisanna wouldn't stop and continued to mock the girl, "What? Cat got your tongue, Oh wait no because no one would come near you, not even animals. Isn't that right Little Miss Nobody, you're just a LMN aren't you. Sad really, you're just pathetic—"  
  
With every word Lisanna said my anger grew, until I couldn’t take it anymore and before I could realize what my mouth was saying, I blurted out, "And what does that make you?”  
  
I feel everyone's unbelieving eyes on me as the whole cafeteria goes silent. My whole face started to turn red from the unwanted attention, but I refused to look away from Lisanna.  
  
Chuckling she turned to me saying, "And... who are you? Miss Nobody's lapdog?"  
  
"Oh that's original. I bet your brain feels as good as new considering you never use it."  
  
I hear some whispers going around the room. And try to block them out so I can concentrate on the person in front of me. Lisanna.  
  
She looked a little shocked at what I said to her, like no one has ever dared to challenge her before.  
  
I took her silence as my opportunity to sit next to the girl who she was picking on a second ago. With my back to Lisanna, I start eating my remaining PB&J sandwich.  
  
"Hey, Fatty! Who do you think you are, talking to Lisanna like that!" One of the girls behind Lisanna said.  
  
"Well... I'm pretty sure my name's Lucy." I explain to the girl.  
  
That's when Lisanna finally came out of her frozen state and re-entered the 'conversation.’  
  
"You're just an ugly, fatty. You and Miss Nobody over there are perfect for each other. Two wanna-be losers, one's a no-name the other's a pig."  
  
"You know somewhere out there is a tree who's working hard producing oxygen for you to breath. I think you should go apologize to it for wasting its effort by speaking." I replied, my back still to her.  
  
This time I heard chuckles coming from around the room, it wasn't loud, most of the students were afraid that if they laughed Lisanna would be after them too, but chuckles were still heard.  
  
Lisanna shot deadly glares at the crowd of people and the chuckling stopped instantly. When it had gone silent, I became really nervous because I refused to turn around and look at Lisanna.  
  
Next thing I knew, I could feel Lisanna's breath on the back of my neck as she leaned in and whispered in my ear, "You'll regret this for the rest of your school life because I'm now going to make your life a living hell here, and no one will help you, I have ties with people in high places. Hahaha it won't just be me you'll have to worry about, you'll have to watch yourself on all sides. You'll be a perfect example to all those who try to oppose me."  
  
With that she stood straight up and left the cafeteria.  
  
Once she was gone the place started to get loud again. However, I stayed silent, I could still feel the chill that ran down my spine as she said those words.  
  
What finally broke me out of my trance was a small little voice that said, "Thank you."  
  
I blinked and turned to the side of me and saw the girl who I helped. She was smiling a small grin and she didn't look sad, but happy even.  
  
As a grin spread across my lips, I reached out my hand and said, "No problem, I'm Lucy."  
  
"Levy, nice to meet you."  
_End Flashback_

  
Just as Lisanna promised, I've been picked on, talked about, attacked from all sides. Both from girls and guys. But hey, I have Levy and we're now best friends, so there's not alot to complain about.  
  
We're known as the school's wanna-be losers now; me the Fatty and Levy, Miss Nobody.  
  
When Lisanna started dating Natsu later that year she got him to pick on me and Levy along with his followers and most of the guys in our grade. And that's how it's been for the past few years; attacked by both Lisanna's followers and Natsu's. Now we're seniors and Levy and I are used to the name calling and pranks that they do to us.  
  
"Hey Dirt Poor, what are you staring at?" I hear Natsu call from the front of the room.  
  
Right, who could forget about that nickname they have for me. It's one of the newer names they gave me.  
  
They came up with it mainly because of the clothes that I wear; old, baggy t-shirts, regular jeans, and old, worn converses. If I'm not mistaken they also got my original nickname, Fatty, from the large t-shirts I wear and for the fact that I tend to bring a lot of food for lunch- but what can I say I usually don’t have breakfast in the morning because I’m not hungry when I wake up, so when lunch rolls around I’m starving. And baggy, worn clothes are comfortable. It doesn’t really matter to me, I stopped caring what they called me along time ago.  
  
I blink when I hear my 'nickname' being called and realize I've been staring directly at them for a while. I blush and look down at my desk and start to mess with my hands. I hear them laugh at something Lisanna said and I just roll my eyes and look up to Levy, who looks back at me, giving me her small smile, which gives me strength.  
  
Smiling at her, I feel my red face go back to normal.  
  
Just as I finish taking out my things for class, the bell rings and the teacher walks in.  
  
As he starts taking attendance, my mind starts to wonder again.  
  
I sigh internally, why am I stuck in the middle of the classroom?  
  
All the main characters, in every book I've read has either sat in the front of the room near the door, like Levy, or in the last row by the windows, like the populars. And here I am near neither window nor door, not in the front row or the back row. Just the middle... but not even the middle-middle; it's like the middle-left.  
  
Yes, this is my life. I'm the supporting character, nothing interesting to see here. Just another nerd who gets picked on by the preps. Nothing special or extraordinary about me.  
  
And that's how I plan to keep it; just a Plain Jane, nothing more. That's all I want people to see me as, so I can keep my secrets, secret and my life away from the school, away from prying eyes.  
  
So, I'll just sit here as the supporting character, in the middle of the room, getting straight A's, and keeping my head in a book; being the geek everyone thinks of me to be, take the bullying and keep my head down. I can’t help but sigh mournfully at the thought.  
  
"Lucy Heartfilia," my Teacher calls.  
  
"Here." I answer.  
  
I let my eyes wonder past people's heads to the window and stare at the outside world as time moves on.


	2. Prologue: Natsu

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A regular morning for the most popular man in school, Natsu Dragneel.

_Natsu's POV  
_

"…tsu….natsu…..Natsu!"

At the sound of my name I snap out of my thoughts and turn my head to see who called me.

I see Lisanna looking at me with an annoyed looked that seems to always be plastered on her face when she talks to me.

 _Sigh_ "What?" I ask her as I look around me. We're standing just outside of the school and I was about to enter a second before Lisanna pulled me back.

"What do you mean 'What'? God I knew you were stupid, but I thought you could at least understand common English… Never mind, listen I have a… thing after school, so don't wait up, K?"

"Yeah, yeah." I answer waving her off.

She's always going places, saying that she has stuff going on. I found it's best to just go along with whatever she says; that way I can do what I want and she can do what she wants. No harm or foul.

I start to walk forward again when she stops me for a second time.

When I turn to her I see that she's looking at me with her signature sweet smile, extending her hand to mine. I smile back and take her hand in mine. We may have our differences, but we're a couple all the same.

Finally, we enter the school and we're greeted with flocks of people all running up to talk to us. Slinging my arm around Lisanna's shoulders and placing a smug smile on my face, I turn to the guys and start to high five and talk to them as Lisanna does the same with the girls.

They surround us as we walk through the halls, some are saying how cute of a couple we are, and others are talking about how cool we look. Some of the guys talk about the car me and Lisanna drove to school in today. Just an ordinary day in the life of us.

It's always been like this... at least since Freshman year.

That's when I first came to this school after transferring from a school from downtown. I was new and didn't really care about school. I mean who would, it's just a boring place filled with boring people.

Well, that is until Lisanna offered me the opportunity to rule the school alongside her. And, hey, who would say no to that.

_Flashback_

Like I said, it was freshman year and it was my first day. Though I didn't start in this school until a couple weeks after it had started cause I transferred.

Throughout the day I messed around in all of my classes and never really listened to what was happening around me. So by the time it was lunch I planned to ditch the rest of my classes, school was boring anyway and I really didn't want to waste my time there.

That is until a girl with short, white hair called out to me, "Hey, Pinkie!"

The moment she spoke, the whole cafeteria went completely silent.

I looked around to see if she was talking to someone else, but since I was the only one with pink hair that I could see, I turned back to the girl and answered, "What?" in an icy tone; I really just wanted to leave and this random chick was not only preventing me from doing so, she was also drawing attention to me so I couldn't leave without alerting someone.

She looked at me for a moment, her eyes scanned my body. I couldn't tell what she was looking for, but she must have found it because the next thing I know she's smiling and walking towards me.

By now I can feel all eyes on us and I have no idea why. And why is it so quiet, nothing is making any sense.

When she finally reaches me she says with a sly grin, "I'm Lisanna... and you should come sit next to me."

I looked into her eyes and I saw something that her face hid extremely well. Her eyes were cold, they looked dangerous and hard.

I furrowed my eyebrows, but replied with an "Ok, why not." It's not like I could leave now with everyone's eyes on me.

When I sit down next to Lisanna, the room starts to get loud again. I look around me and when I return my gaze back to Lisanna, multiple people have come up to us. They start talking about random things; most of the time they're playing jokes on each other and talking.

Halfway through lunch I realize that I'm actually enjoying myself and laughing along with these people. There were so many people, and there was never a dull moment; always someone new, eager and ready to make me and Lisanna laugh or just listen to us talk. It was refreshing compared to all my classes where I was told to shut up and do as I'm told.

When the bell rang for classes to start again, I didn't want to leave.

But as all the people started to clear out, I got up to collect my things. That is until Lisanna stopped me.

"So, are you going to tell me your name?" She asked, her words light and sounded as if they were spoken through smiling lips.

I totally forgot that she doesn't even know my name, I felt so content with how lunch was going.

I smile at her and replied, "Its Natsu."

"Well Natsu. I have a question for you." Looking me directly in the eyes, she continued, "How did you like all the attention? Did you like the way lunch was going?"

Confused I answered her, "Yeah, why wouldn't I have liked it?"

"No reason, no reason at all. I was just wandering if you wanted to make it permanent?" That's when she turned away from me, and I knew something was fishy.

"Yeah, I would like that." I said slowly.

"However, something like this doesn't come without a price... It's not a big price, but you have to pay it either way."

I knew there was a catch. Hardening my face, I ask, "And what might that price be?"

Smiling a sly grin, she said, "For you to rule this school, you'll need me by your side."

I just looked at her, what the hell is she talking about?

"And the only way for me to be by your side, is if we're a couple. The perfect couple, that is. The couple every loves, the couple everyone strives to be like. And in that way we can rule this school, so we can do what we want without anyone opposing us."

"And why would I say yes?" I ask her skeptically.

"Well, so you won't be bored. Don't you want your school life to be fun and to do and have whatever you want? So, if that's what you desire you'll say yes and we'll be together. Of course, us being together will have its perks; you'll be dating the most beautiful girl in school and I'll be dating the hot and charming new guy. All the girls like me and all the guys want me and you have the potential to meet the same standards as me. But in order for m-" she clears her voice before continuing, smile plastered on her face, "for _us_ to completely rule this school we need someone by our sides and that's where we can help each other."

I look at her and start weighing the pros and cons in my head, trying to calculate whether it's worth it or not.

"So what do you say? This _is_ a limited offer; if I don't get my answer soon, I'll be forced to ask another person…... Well? What do you say?"

I look straight into her icy cold blue eyes and say, "Yes, let's rule this school together."

_End Flashback_

Ever since that day we have been together. And, like she said, it hasn't been all bad.

Yes, we have our ups and downs, but throughout the years we've grown into a real couple.

We rule this school, and if that means we have to do it with an iron fist, we will.

When it comes to picking on kids, it's really simple. I just choice some random kid and joke on him. I never go too far and usually it's Lisanna who lets me know who needs to be reminded of who the rulers of this kingdom are.

When she needs help to deal with someone, I join in. Picking on these kids is a great distraction from my life outside of school. So, I don't mind having the distractions of messing with people, Lisanna, my kingdom and everyone's love for me. So, yes, I'll play the role as the typical "Perfect Guy."

I start to laugh and forget about the problems waiting for me behind the school doors. And as I walk down the main hall with Lisanna holding on to my right hand and the guys to my left, the bell rings.

Smiling me and Lisanna say goodbye to the group and head to our first class, English. Before we enter the room, I see Sting waiting for us at the door with Sorano and Yukino, Lisanna's close friends.

"Hey" I say to Sting, giving him a high five while Lisanna greets Sorano and Yukino.

We're the last ones to walk into the classroom. The first thing I see is some nerd in the front, getting out his things. I smile and wink at Lisanna and walk up to the kid.

"Hey, what are you doing, loser?" I say and my friends laugh, "Did you actually do your homework? Wow you must not have a life if you're doing this stuff."

Picking up his paperwork, I start to look at it. I can vaguely hear Sting and Lisanna, along with her friends messing with the kid. But as I look at the kid's work I don't understand a thing he's written, it looks like some ancient language and I can barely follow his work. I take a quick glance back at the kid to see Lisanna with his glasses and Sting pulling on his hood.

No one's looking at me and I furrow my eyebrows together and look back at his work. It's his science homework... psychics; so why are there math equations? Letters and shapes in the problems? It doesn't make sense; how can anyone understand what he's trying to do?

I just don't get it.

Snapping out of my own little world, I throw the paper back at the kid and look around the room again.

That's when I see Dirt Poor staring at us. She's wearing the same old, dirty, HUGE clothes as always. The Fatty is so pathetic.

Though... I can kind of relate, not that anyone will ever know.

"Hey Dirt Poor, what are you staring at?" I say loud enough for the whole room to hear. And people start to giggle and I smile contently to myself.

Lisanna and Sting look up to the girl, ignoring the nerd we were just messing with.

Lisanna glares at her with a smile on her face. "Guess Fatty over there wishes she hadn't eaten all those twinkies," she says and I can see Dirt Poor's face turning red.

That's when the teacher came in and told us to move to our seats in the back of the room.

By the time we're sitting at our desks, he's started taking attendance.

With Lisanna to my left and Sting to my right, I sit back in my chair and prepare to get comfortable in my seat for the rest of class.

That's when I see Dirt Poor staring out the window. I look at her and then to the window.

I wonder what she's looking at...

What does she see when she looks at the world outside of this school...

I wonder if she's looking for an escape... like me.


	3. The Assignment

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The class gets partnered up for an English project

_Lucy's POV_

Man, I hate Mondays.

Why does it have to be Monday; why can't it be Friday? Like, can it be Friday all the time.

We only have 15 minutes left in class and I'm so bored. It's only 10:00 in the morning and I already wish I was anywhere but here.

I've already finished the homework Mr. Dreyar has assigned for the night. It was really simple and I did it in like 12 minutes.

I’m sitting here waiting until the bell rings when Mr. Dreyar clears his throat gaining the attention of the students. Standing behind his desk the short, elderly man said, "Okay everyone, it's nearly time to go…"

At this, everyone got up and started to pack their bags, but Mr. Dreyar continued "…but before you leave I have something to give you." Then he started to hand out pieces of paper down the rows of students.

Groans could be heard around the room and I knew that it wasn't good; so when I finally got the paper and saw what was written on the top, I also groaned.

It was a project… on a Shakespeare play… due next week… shoot me now.

At least it was only a poster board and not something like acting it out in class.

"Okay, now that everyone has a paper, I'll explain the project. You'll have to decorate a poster board with information about a Shakespeare play -that I'll be assigning to you- and it'll be due next week on Wednesday after the four-day weekend."

Everyone groaned again; this sucks, no one likes projects. Especially one that’s due after a four-day weekend!

"Oh come on guys, it's not that bad. You'll even get a partner."

At this the class started to get loud with people talking to their friends about who is going to be with who. I glance up to look at Levy only to find her already staring at me. A smile crosses my face, yep we'll definitely be partners.

Well that was until Mr. Dreyar said, "Quite down everyone. Don't get too excited; I'll be picking out your partners." That's when my smile fell.

I only wanted to be with Levy; half of the class has called me one name or another, and the other half is made up of random kids I don't know. So please god, let me be matched up with my friend.

Mr. Dreyar starts to call out the names of students and I hold my breath.

"…Smith with Johns, McGarden with…" Please say Heartfilia, please say Heartfilia! "…Fitzherbert"

Damn it!

I see Levy look to her right where her partner smiles at her as she smiles back. Humph, why isn't my last name Fitzherbert.

The teacher continues on down his list and I wait for my name to be called along with the name of my partner for this project.

"…Strauss will be with Eucliffe…" Of course those two are together.

I bet they won't even do the project; they'll be too busy doing each other to actually work on it. They'll just get some random kid who worships them hand and foot to do it for them.

And Natsu will have no idea.

There's that feeling of pity rising up in my gut again, poor guy doesn’t even know his girlfriend is- "…Heartfilia with Dragneel…"

…WHAT! And just like that the pity's gone.

How the hell did I get partnered up with NATSU of ALL people! What is the teacher thinking, is he blind! Can't he see that Natsu and I don't get along! What the hell is this!

"Okay, so those are the groups for this project. And I would like to tell you all this now so you don't come and talk to me after class. No one will be switching partners, and if you even ask you'll be stuck with that partner for the rest of the school year."

What?

You have got to be kidding me! I'm stuck with him for this project, AND there's no getting out of it; what am I supposed to do?

I look back to Natsu and I can tell he's thinking something along the same lines as me considering the look on his face.

"Now here's the Shakespeare play that you'll be assigned..." I stopped listening and blanked out until I heard the teacher call me and Natsu's names.

I look back up to the teacher as he says, "You guys will be doing the play _As You Like It_."

I nod at him so he knows that I understand; I'm just glad it's not _Romeo and Juliet_ , that play is so overdone.

By the time Mr. Dreyar is done telling everyone what their project will be, I'm angry and upset.

I bet Natsu plans on doing nothing for this project... hell no am I letting that happen!

"Now class, this is very important, so you better listen. You will only have a few opportunities to work on the project in class, so exchange numbers or places to meet, whatever you need to do; because you will have to work on the project outside of school with your partner."

 _Sigh_ I barely want to see Natsu at school, let alone after school on my free time. This is going to be a long week, and I can already tell that it'll be very stressful.

That's when the bell rang and the teacher said, "Okay guys, I'll see you tomorrow. Have a good day."

As everyone starts to rush out of the classroom door, I can see Natsu at the front of the pack.

Oh no you don't. You aren't getting off that easy.

I jump out of my seat and start off to catch him before he gets too far away that I can't see him.

By the time I get outside of the classroom, all I can see is his pink hair bobbing in and out of the sea of kids going to their next class.

I begin to make a bee line straight to Natsu.

By the time I catch up to him, he's at his locker with Lisanna, her two lackeys, and Sting.

"Natsu!" I yell.

The group all turns to look at me and they start to laugh, -probably because on my way to catch up to Natsu I was pushed around in the large crowd of kids, which messed up my hair and my clothes- everyone but Natsu is laughing, he's just wearing a big frown.

"We need to talk!" I say when I don't get a reply from him.

There is just more laughter from the group. As I continue to look at them Lisanna turns to Natsu giggling and says, "Looks like Fatty over there wants to have a talk with you have fun." She looks me up and down with a smirk on her face before she kisses him on the lips.

Then she goes, bringing Sting, Sorano, and Yukino with her, leaving me and Natsu by ourselves in the hallway of lockers.

“… What do you want?" Natsu said with his hands in his pockets as he looks around, bored and obviously annoyed.

Really! Why's he looking like that, as if I'm bothering him, like it's too much trouble to even look at me when he's talking to me!

God, preps, I swear!

I grumble under my breath, angrily “What do I want…” I let out a breath as I say, “Well shouldn't we arrange a time to meet for the English project, or we could exchange numbers or something?"

"Yeah, about that… I was think that since I'm no good with homework and you like to get A's all the time, that I'd let you figure it out." And with that he starts to leave, walking right pass me.

I knew he would try something like this, and that's why I prepared for it.

So, before he got out of earshot, I reply to his answer with a choice for him to make.

"If you think I'm going to be doing this assignment by myself you better think again, because my grade _can_ take a hit, but something tells me that yours can't." Natsu stops, still looking forward, not acknowledging me but I know he heard what I said.

"So, unless you want _another_ zero on your grade, you'll be at the library when school ends at 3:35 tomorrow. I'll wait for you there, but I'll only wait for half an hour, if you're not there by then I'll leave and the project won't get finished."

Natsu stays silent and I can tell by the way his body tenses that he understands. As I get closer to him I can see his hands are in fists and I know he’s just as angry as I am with the situation, but what I had to say, he had to hear.

Before I leave though, I say, "Meet me at the Central Library in town. You have thirty minutes after school to find the library if you don't know where it is; if you aren't there by 4:00 I'll be gone."

And with that, I walk away.

I re-enter the sea of students heading to second period, leaving Natsu behind in the empty hallway to make his decision.

* * *

_Natsu's POV_

I'm so pissed!

It's nearly lunch and I'm still angry about what that Fatty said to me!

How dare she say that to me! I'm _not_ stupid! And why can't she do the project by herself! It's not like she needs my help to get a good grade, she _can_ do it by herself. She'd probably get a better grade if I didn't help her with the stupid project.

It just pisses me off that she's right. I'm close to failing that class and Mr. Dreyar told me I can't afford another low grade in his class otherwise I won't be able to graduate. But it's hard to keep up when you don't understand what's going on and you can't ask for help, otherwise the image that took you so long to build will come crashing down.

If it weren't for those geeks who do the work for me, I’d have failed the class a long time ago.

So, why can't Dirty Poor be like them and just do the project for the both of us? We don't even like each other and she still wants to work on this project together, can't she see how hazardous this whole situation is.

Why did she have to be my partner? _ANYBODY_ would have been better, seriously _anybody_!

At least than they would have done most of the work. Not only that, but Sting gets to be with my girlfriend; how is that fair!

Than the teacher goes and says we can't switch partners.

This sucks!

And now I have to meet Dirt Poor at some library in town tomorrow; either that or get a zero on the project.

Damn it, this really sucks!

I bet Dirt Poor it just loving the fact that she has the upper hand, she probably lives at the library anyway. Oh and I just know she’ll take any chance she can get to show how much smarter she is than me, I bet she thinks I’m this stupid-

Abruptly the bell rings for lunch interrupting my train of thought. As I walk out of my class along with everyone else, I see Lisanna waiting for me at the entrance to the lunchroom.

Smiling she greets me when I reach her, "Hi cutie."

I don't say anything and just continue walking to a table filled with kids. I'm so upset, I don't even care if Lisanna is mad at me right now.

"Get up and leave." I say to the kids at the table.

They start to laugh and one of the kids say, "How about you go…" that's when he sees who he’s talking to.

When he sees me, the boy's mouth shuts quickly.

At the sudden silence the boy’s friends also look up only to see me standing before them, pissed. Slowly a look of horror etches it’s features onto their faces.

I hear apologizes being shot my way as the kids get up and leave the table in a hurry.

The guy from before say, "We're extremely sorry. The table's all yours. We're sorry, again. Truly, very sorry."

By the time they’re gone, Lisanna has caught up to me. "Natsu, what the hell was that, why are ignoring me?"

 _Sigh_ I'm really not in the mood for anything right now.

"What was what?"

She just looks at me for a second, and then crosses her arms, "What's wrong?"

"Nothing," I snap at her.

Frowning she asks, "Is this because of that English project? It's because you got stuck with the Fatty, isn't it?"

I stay silent.

"Well, I think it's a perfect opportunity to mess with her. Learn all her secrets and-"

"JUST DROP IT," I yell.

After the outburst, the whole cafeteria goes quiet… deathly quiet.

No one dares to move or speak. Everyone’s looking at me and Lisanna.

Taking in a couple of deep breaths, I turn to Lisanna and continue in a quieter voice, barely above a whisper, "…alright. Just drop it."

After a couple of seconds, Lisanna replies with a blank face, "Yeah… okay, whatever you say."

With that being said, Lisanna joins me as we sit down at the once full table.

A minute goes by of silence in the cafeteria; not even chewing could be heard. However, noise slowly begins to return to the room full of students.

Even though other students are starting to talk again, I stay silent for the rest of the lunch period.

By the time the bell rings for students to go back to class, I can't stay in school any longer. I need to leave, and I need to leave now.

"Lisanna, I'm ditching the rest of my classes... do you want to come with me?"

"No, Natsu," she declines, "I have a thing after school today remember?"

Looking down, I say, "Oh, yeah… than I guess I'll see you later."

And with that, I head towards the school doors, making sure none of the teachers see me leave.

When I get outside, I don't know what I'm doing.

I don't want to stay at school and I sure as hell don't want to go home.

So, I just start to walk with no particular destination; just away… away from the school, away from my problems, and away from that girl.

I don't want to get close to her; I don't want to 'learn all her secrets' and destroy her like Lisanna wants me to. I just want to stay away from her, she reminds me of stuff that I don't want to be reminded of.

So why am I stuck with her?!

I don't want anything to do with Dirt Poor.


	4. It's Simple

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Meeting at the library... doesn't turn out so well

_Lucy's POV_

I told him to be here at 4:00, where the hell is he?

Okay so it's only been 10 minutes past 4:00, but still I've been here for over thirty minutes already!

… Okay, so what if I love being at the library. It doesn't matter that I read a book the whole time I was waiting for him.

He _should_ have been here by now!

I look up from my book and stare at the clock hanging over the entrance. My eyes wonder down to the doors, which show no hint of moving anytime soon. _Sigh_.

I told him to be here at 4:00 otherwise I would leave and the project won't get done. Does he really want a zero? Or could he really not find the library?

 _Sigh_ whatever, I don't need to wait around all day for an arrogant popular kid who probably wouldn't have helped me with the project in the first place.

So I got up and started packing my things. Slinging my backpack across my shoulders and holding my book in my hand, I head to the door.

There are never a lot of people here during the week, especially on Tuesday afternoon's. On my way to the door, I count like three people excluding the one librarian at her work desk.

Smiling as I pass her, I reach my hand out to the door handle.

Pushing the door open, I can feel the wind blowing. I look down at my feet and start heading to the parking lot.

Well that is until I ran into someone–quit literally. Stumbling back, I say, "Oh, sorry."

Whoever this person was they were as hard as a wall, they barely even moved when I bumped into them.

Looking up, I see Natsu standing there, looking down at me. Oh, great.

I didn't even realize how tall he was until I was standing right next to him.

Well, that makes me upset. I have to look up if I want to make eye contact with the guy, so not only does he look down on me figuratively, he physically has to look down on me.

Pushing those thoughts to the back of my mind, I say, "Well, you finally made it."

He just looks around, ignoring me.

He knows all the right buttons to push, I swear. "What took you so long?"

He finally looks back at me and said in a bored tone, "Well… I've never been to the library before, so it took a while to find."

Of course he's never been to the library. Why would I think anything else?

After a couple of seconds I say, "Well, then let's get started."

With that I start walking towards the doors again, not turning around to see if he's following me.

By the time we get a table and started setting up to begin the project it is already 4:34. This is taking longer than I expected it would.

"Ok, so, do you know anything about the play _As You like It_?" I ask Natsu.

He just looks at me like I just asked him if the sky was blue. "No." He replied as if I should have already known the answer. 

"Great." I then go to one of the library computers and pull up Google. "Ok, well in that case let's start our research."

"Fine." Out of the corner of my eye I can see him go to the computer next to me and do the same as I did and pull up google.

Okay, now I can concentrate on doing my work knowing that Natsu is here and doing his.

After about half an hour of reading through the play -which wasn't that long really- I turn to Natsu and start talking.

"Well, this play is actually kind of interesting, don't you think?" When I look over at him, I can see him playing a stupid computer game.

ARE YOU SERIOUS! This whole time I've been researching and _he's_ been playing games!

Hitting him on the shoulder, he jumps a little and turns to me. I'm staring at him fuming and he just looks at me annoyed and says, "What?"

"Don't 'what' me. What are you doing?! You were supposed to be doing research!"

"About that… It was boring so I stopped."

"You can't just do that! Come on get it up and read the play." I wait staring at him. He just sighs exasperated and pulls up the play up on his screen.

He sends me a side glance and I indicate for him to start reading.

As he does, I can’t help but notice the way his forehead crinkles and how he bites his lip –which isn't cutie... stop thinking about his lips, he's a jerk remember. Even if he is a hot jerk it doesn't give him a pass.- But why's he looking like that.

He starts to mouth some words and I can tell he's getting frustrated. That's when he shakes his head and sits back in his chair.

"You know what, you've read the play, why not just give me a quick summary."

I look at him for a second. What was that look he had a second ago? He looked confused. Which kind of makes sense because the play is written like… well a Shakespeare play, but even than most people can at least understand some of it. But Natsu just seemed lost.

Then it dawned on me. He really is _lost_ , he doesn't understand. "You can't read it, can you?"

"What are you talking about?! Of course I can read!"

"Shhhh!" We hear the librarian say to us.

"I know you can read it! You just don't understand it." I say more quietly.

He looks embarrassed and angry.

It takes him a couple of seconds to collect his thoughts. I don't think anyone has noticed before. Has he always had trouble understanding passages like this? Is that why he doesn't get good grades? Is he just confused and just lashing out?

When he finally speaks, he says, "Well of course I don't understand this! Who talks like this! All the thee's and thy's, and the way the people say thing don't make any sense. Only losers, like you would be able to understand something dumb like this."

"Hey, you don't have to call others losers just because _you_ don't get something others can!"

"What are you talking about; NOBODY understands this except people with no life and has the time to actually read stuff like this."

Suddenly Natsu gets up and heads back to the table.

"It's not like anybody talks like that in the outside world, maybe they did that once, but not anymore. So why do I have to learn something that doesn’t make sense, something that I won't even use in my life!"

The more he talks, I can see that he's not really yelling at me, but more to himself. He's frustrated that he doesn't understand, but others do. He's upset that even though he doesn't understand it, he's expected too. There's no one helping him learn the material; I mean sure there's the teacher, but Natsu looks like one of those people who need more than just getting taught the information. He needs a tutor or something.

Is that why he always gets someone else to do his work for him? Is it because he just doesn't get it?

"It's ok if you don—" Before I could finish, Natsu sends me a chill-staking stare. When he speaks it’s barely above a whisper, but the words drip with annoyance and anger, "I'm leaving."

With that he grabs his jacket off the seat and his bag and walks towards the door.

Wait… what?

He can’t just leave like that? I grabbed my stuff in a hurried attempt to catch him before he gets too far away.

I run out the library doors and look around, trying to spot him.

I see him across the street and with that I run up to him.

"Hey!" catching up to him, I continue, "Where are you going, we still have the project to do!"

"Well I'm not! If you want to work on that stupid project go ahead, but I'm leaving."

"If you don't understand it, it's ok I can help. I'll explain it and it'll make alot more sense than it does now, I promise."

"What part of, 'I don't need your help, I'm leaving' don't you understand."

"But it's simple—" That's when he cut me off for the second time in an hour –which is really starting to tick me off-

" _IT'S NOT SIMPLE!_ Maybe it is for nerds and losers, -which luckily for you, you're both- you guys can understand something as _USELESS_ as English and Math and Science! But for the rest of us –the people with lives to live and things to do- it doesn't make as much 'sense' and it's _NOT simple!_ You probably laugh at people who struggle with stuff as ‘ _simple_ ’ as reading Shakespeare. I bet you mock us regular people behind our backs, people like you really piss me off. _"_

And with that he picked up the pass and started down the sidewalk, away from me and the library.

What he said shocks me. I was stunned to silence. How ignorant can a person be! I offer my help and he goes off and calls me a loser, nerd, geek, whatever and then goes and says that I don't have a life, that I don't have things I enjoy and go do. Like I just stay home and wait for school so I can learn more stuff, like I don't have friends and things I have to do. Oh and that _I’m_ the bad guy who makes fun of people who aren’t as intelligent as me, as if he doesn’t do the same thing everyday. _Who_ is he to tell me that stuff!

"WHERE DO YOU THINK YOU'RE GOING?!" I shout at him, some people look at us from across the street, but I don't care all I can see is Natsu's back as he walks further and further away.

"ANY WHERE BUT HERE!" He shouts back over his shoulder.

And with that he turns the corner and is gone.

What. The. Hell.

* * *

_Natsu's POV_

By the time that I get home it’s 6:00.

Well if you could call this dump a home, which I don't.

I can hear at least 5 kids in the living room messing around, another 4 are running up and down the stairs, and there’s probably 6 more upstairs stomping on the floor.

There was a sudden crash that came from the living room and all five kids rush out yelling stuff like, "I didn't do it!" or "It wasn't me!"

Rolling my eyes, I head up the stairs hoping to reach my room before my foster parents see me.

I _hate_ this place. Why did I even come back here after that pointless library meeting?

I just want to go to my room and not have to think about my problems or that loser of a nerd.

I'm not simple minded… it just takes me longer to understand some things that others find easy.

Math is a total different language, Science is basically nonsense that someone made up and then made everyone else learn that nonsense, and English… some things make sense, but others don't at all. Like when some author from a random book says 'there was a cool breeze that chilled him to the very soul' from what I get out of it, it's cold, but than you have the teacher that tells the class that what it _really_ symbolizes, is that he's depressed and alone. Like... what? Where did you get that from? And then you have the nerds, like Dirty Poor, who get it instantly and can finish the homework in 15 minutes _during class_.

They don't understand. They don't know what it feels like to _not_ get it instantly. That sometimes even if you stay up till 2 in the morning studying, it still doesn't make sense; it's still not enough.

They don't understand the self-loathing you get when everyone around you _gets it_ … but you don't. How it makes you feel stupid and that there's nothing that can help. How it makes you feel worthless and incompetent, like you're some ape that doesn't have any brains.

But what do they know! What does she know!

I'm not stupid! I'm not… I'm not, right? I'm not just a big waste?

…If I'm not a big waste of a life, than why am I here? Why am I still in a foster home with dozens of other kids at the age 17? No one wanted me, not my parents, not the people that come through here looking for a child to adopt.

But what does anyone know about my worth? The only person that's ever given me the time of day is Lisanna because, though she's not the best girlfriend or even a good person, she was there when I didn't have anyone.

When I got to the top of the stairs all I can think about is that stupid blonde. She's probably laughing at me right now.

She knows that I don't understand things others can. Why? WHY did I have to be partnered with her?! Tomorrow she'll go to school and tell everyone how stupid I am, then everyone will be laughing at me!

I start to head down the long hallway towards my room, when I bump into someone.

Looking down I see a blue-haired 12 year-old with her white cat looking up at me with happy, innocent eyes.

"Why did you stay after school for so long? What were you doing?" Wendy says.

I look down at her. Wendy came to the foster home when she was 3; I was 8 at the time. She was so small and she instantly stuck to me. I had no idea why, she was always following me around and smiled at me even if I didn't do anything for her.

By the time I was 10 and she was 5, I was an angry little punk. So one day when I was fed-up with her following me around all the time, I exploded and asked her why had she always followed me like a dog, I’d never done anything for her? Why did she have to annoy me? Why… me?

She just looked at me with those innocent little eyes. Then she smiled a wide grin and said, "Because you're special and you're my big brother."

Ever since that day I've been very protective over her. I mean, I'm her older brother aren't I.

But right now, I'm angry and annoyed and upset. I don't have time for her questions; all I want to do is lie down in my bed and listen to my music. I don't want to be around anyone and the longer Wendy's here, the longer I have to wait to unravel.

"Nothing," I say, quick and sweet. I start to walk by her, when she stops me.

"That doesn't really sound like an answer. Come on Natsu, you know you can tell me anything."

"That's the only answer you're going to get. Now leave me alone, stop bugging me, and go play with the other kids." By now I really just want to end the conversation and leave. I'm angry, so angry with myself, with Dirty Poor, with the way we left the project, at my life outside of school, at my foster parents who don’t give a damn about us kids and only take us in to collect the money given to them by the state to take care of us. I'm angry and I need to be alone right now.

"But I don't wanna, can I play with you?"

"No, you can't, because I don't have time for spoiled little brats who can't take no for an answer, so either go play with the other kids or don't play at all I don't care." And with that I pushed passed her and continued the walk to my room.

"Natsu, I don't know what happened to you, but you sure are sour. The big brother that I know and love doesn't do that. He doesn't lash out at his little sister when all she wants to do is play with him." Wendy says talking to me as I walk down the hall.

Really? She's using that card?

I turn around so I'm facing her again, and I see she's standing there with her arms crossed over her chest and she's staring angrily at me clearly upset. But, you know what, I don't care and I stare daggers right back.

She flinches a little when I do this. But I don't stop there, I begin to walk back to her not stopping until I’m close enough to look down at her with an icy glare.

"Well then, I guess it's a good thing that I'm not really your brother, isn't it? And since you're not really my 'little sister' then that means I don't have to play with you, right."

Once the words were out, I knew I shouldn't have said them. The way her face fell with every word I spoke; she looked broken. And she looks like she could start crying at any minute. I've never spoken to her like that before and the only reason I did was because I’m upset and angry. She’s just the first person to have stopped me before I could unravel.

When that first tear fell, I reached my hand out to pull her into a hug and tell her I'm sorry. That I didn't mean any of it, I just had a really tough day and that I love her and tell her that she _is_ my baby sister and she should never think otherwise.

But before I could, she pulled away and said, "Don't touch me," and then she ran down the stairs and out the door...

“ARGH, DAMN IT!” I can’t help but shout as I rack my hands through my hair and clench them into fists at the top of my head.

Why did I have to do that! The one person I truly care about and I go and push her away!

Why do I do this!

When I get to my room, I slam the door shut and start racking my fingers through my hair and across my face.

What the HELL Natsu! What did you do, why did you say that?!

SHIT!

I punch the wall and I'm breathing heavy. After a few seconds of standing there with my fist to the wall and breathing out of my mouth, I crumble to the ground.

What am I doing?

* * *

_Lucy's POV_

Well… now what do I do?

I've been sitting on this swing at an old park for what feels like hours, even the sun has began to set.

What am I supposed to do with Natsu? I mean, I understand why he's anger now; why he's always venting his anger out on people. Well, at least I think I understand.

But still, he does NOT get to treat people like that just because he's angry with himself. Not only that but when I offered to help him, he just yells at me! What is with that!

All I want to do is help him and he goes and stomps on the offer. Well, you know what I don't even care. He can get all the zero's he wants and fail high school… GAHHH I can't! I can't, in good conscience, just let a guy who's just lost and confused, fail… BUT HE'S SUCH AN ASS!

Leaning forward on the swing, and putting my head in my hands all I can think is, 'What am I going to do?'

AHHH I totally forgot about the project… if Natsu doesn't want help to understand the contents of the play, then how are we even going to do the project.

I know I said I'd take a zero and my grade wouldn't be effect, but that doesn't mean I _want_ a zero! I hate zeros!

 _Sigh_ What should I do?

That's when I heard someone approaching. I shoot my head up, all I can think about is a man like 6feet tall, really buff who wants to take me and do… oh God, please, please don't let me die today.

What I wasn't expecting was a 4foot girl who doesn't even look like she could be a teenager, she had blue hair and appears to have been crying.

I let out a sigh of relief before I start talking to the girl.

"Hey, are you alright?" I say with a tang of worry in my voice, what's a little girl doing here so late? "What are you doing here?"

She looks at me for the first time and said, "Well it's a park, don't you think an eleven year old should be allowed to play in a park. The really question is, why are you here?"

I was stunned for a second. "Um, well I guess I needed to think about something, so I… uh… ended up coming here."

"You too huh," the girl said and with that she came over and sat on the swing next to mine.

We’re silent for a couple of minutes. When I hear her sigh, I look at her from the corner of my eye and I can tell she's defiantly been crying, but not a hard cry. It looked more like she was just upset and some tears escaped her eyes.

"So, what brings you to the park this late at night?" I ask her.

"Late? It's only 6:15," she giggles, "if this is what you call late, than you must be some kind of grandma."

"Grandma! Why I never!" I'm smiling as I say this and the little girl starts to laugh. She's so cute and has a great smile, she shouldn't be crying; which brings me back to my earlier question.

Still giggling a little, I say, "Ok, Ms. 'It's only 6:15' what's got you all upset?"

I look at her, waiting for her reply. She turns her head away from me and looks forward. "Well… you see, it's my older brother." She goes silent again, and I wait patiently for her to continue letting the silence wash over us.

"You see the thing is, he's not really my brother… and I know that, but he's the closest thing I have to a family… so why, why did he have to go and say the things he did?"

Um… ok, I think I'm missing a couple of things here and there. Her brother, that's not really her brother obviously said something to hurt her –though I don't know what it is he said-.

"Well… uh… maybe he was having a tough day." I say trying to come up with a reason as to what happened.

"No, you don't get it. He didn't just say any random thing; he said that he _wasn't_ my brother! He's never said anything like that before, he's always loved me and we have fun together. Even when he has a bad day, he's never lashed out at me like he did today."

It was silent for a couple of seconds before she continued, "Do you think he really doesn't want to be my big brother anymore? Do you think he hates me?"

"No... There's no way he could hate you. He just probably had a really bad day."

"But I told you, he's had bad days before, but he's never like this!"

Thinking, I say, "Well... then, let me ask you a question. If you have a bad day, like a really, _really_ bad day, do you tell your brother everything? Do you tell him what happened, how it made you feel, _everything_?"

"Well… no," she answered shyly.

"And why's that?" I ask her.

"Well, if I told him everything, he'd be worried... I can't show him everything because I have to be strong so he won't have to worry about me all the time. He's extremely protective and I know he loves me, so if I was having a bad day he'd start nagging me and that would just drive me crazy."

"Well, I'm sure it's the same for him. I mean he's your older brother; he doesn't want you to see him as some winy, weak guy, he wants you to be able to rely on him. And in order to do that, _he_ can't share everything with you; to be strong for those you love, sometimes you've got to hide your emotions, like hurt and sadness... for the sake of protecting your loved ones, you've got to bury those feelings deep down, so they don't have to worry about you, right? … And trust me when I say that can be difficult when you've had a really, _really_ bad day."

The girl sighs and says, "Yeah, I guess you have a point… thanks."

And with that we just sat there on the swings staring at the slowly darkening sky.

Well that is until she turns to me, smiling, and asks, "What about you 'Grandma'? What's got you all down in the dumps?"

Now it's my turn to sigh.

"Well, it's about this guy…"

"It always is with girls your age, isn't it?" said the girl a little slyly.

"No, no. It's _not_ like that. This guy he's… he's… difficult to describe. We got partnered up for this one project, and trust me when I say I was _not_ happy. This guy, he's this prep, a popular kid, a bully. He's the cool guy that everyone loves, well everyone but me, I hate him. But today, I saw something that I'm sure a lot of people don't see. I saw a kid who's lost; he doesn't understand the material and he's just confused. I learned that that's why he doesn't do his work in school, he just doesn't get it."

"I don't really see the problem. He just needs a little extra help," She said.

"Yeah, that's what you would think, but when I tried to offer my help, not only did he flat out reject it, but he also became a complete jerk in doing so. All I was trying to do was help and what do I get for it, a big fat slap in the face. So I don't know what to do. Should I continue to pester him and make him learn it, or should I leave him to sink or swim on his own."

By now I'm not looking at the girl, there's just to many things to consider, if I help him what will happen at school? What would Lis—

"Well isn't it obvious?" the little girl cut into my thoughts.

"What?" What is she talking about obvious, there is _defiantly_ not an obvious answer to this problem.

"Isn't it obvious?" she repeated. The look on my face must have given away the answer because the next thing I knew she started to explain it to me.

"Well, you did say he's popular and then you tell me he's having trouble in school. Don't you think he considers it embarrassing? I mean, think of it like this, you're partnered with this girl who is super smart and gets things easily. So when you're trying to understand something, she expects you to already know it and it's embarrassing to say 'No, I don't get it, I need help' especially if you're popular and people look up to you. I'd be a little frustrated too, wouldn't you? But just because he's frustrated and taking it out on you, doesn't mean you should just leave him hanging; you should still help him because that's what a good person does."

"And how do you know I'm a good person?" I ask her, I mean we just met there's no way she can know if I'm nice or not.

"Please, of course you're a good person, otherwise you wouldn't have helped me with my problem and made me feel better," she replied in a matter-of-fact way.

"Besides, eventually you'll _reach him;_ and he'll be glad you threw a life preserve to him, instead of just watching to see if he sinks or swims."

After that we’re silent. It was nice just talking to this girl, this random person I don't even know… God I don't even know her name, but I'm going to find out.

"So… Ms. 'It's only 6:15' what's your name?"

Giggling she replies, "Wendy. And yours?"

"Lucy." I smile at her and hold out my hand, "Thanks Wendy, it was great to meet you."

Taking my hand in hers, she says, "Anytime Lucy."

Once we let go, I notice street lights starting to come on for the evening and I check my phone to see that it's already 7.

Damn it's late; I really need to get home.

"Hey Wendy, it's getting late and I think we should both head home, don't you?"

"Yeah, I guess you're right." Wendy gets up off the swing and starts heading the opposite direction from the way I'm going.

I look at her and then to the sky, the suns still out, but should I walk her home. I mean she is only a little girl and shouldn't be wondering the streets alone.

"Uh, Wendy do you want me to walk you home?" I asked her just to be safe.

"No, I'll be fine. It's not far from here and I'll head straight there." She said reassuringly.

I smile at her, she really is an amazing girl isn't she, "Ok, well I'm glad I got to meet you and good luck with your brother."

"Thanks and good luck to you with your 'boy problems'!"

And with that I start heading home. Thinking about the advice Wendy gave me about Natsu.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ok guys, so this chapter is the absolute worse. When I went back and re-read this I was cringing so hard. Especially the parts with Lucy and Wendy. But I wrote this like 4 years ago and don't have the energy to re-write the entire chapter, so I'm leaving it as is. It serves the purpose of the story. And trust me, the chapters after this one get a lot better, so if you've stuck it out this far thank you. You've officially made it pass the hump of bad writing, from here on forward you should see better and well written chapters. Believe me, what's about to come is worth the read.  
> As always, please comment and subscribe.  
> Thanks guys, Love you!!


	5. Where I go

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Natsu's still upset from the pervious day's events

_Natsu's POV_

_…beep…Beep…BEEP_

What the hell is that noise?! I turn over in my warm bed, my blankets are sprawled out all around me as my eyes flutter open.

God I don't want to get up and… do today. Yesterday was the first day I worked on the project and none of it made sense, then you have Ms. Know-It-All call me out on it which was so embarrassing.

Who knows what will happen at school today. _Sigh_

At least the fight I had with Wendy was resolved. I don't know what happened, she left so upset and I felt like crap; I was just freaking out and counting down the minutes until she would walk back through the door, but as it got later and darker I just got more worried. By the time she finally did return I already had my shoes on and was about to go look for her.

When our eyes met, she just looked at me and I crumbled. I wanted to apologize, to say how sorry I was and that she _is_ my sister and that she deserved a better brother than me but it all fell short on my tongue and we just stared at each other.

I don't know what happened. Maybe she saw everything I wanted to say written on my face, maybe she saw it in my body language, or maybe she just knew; whatever it was, the next thing I knew she was smiling at me and then she ran up to me and gave me a tight hug with her little arms wrapped around my waist.

I was completely shocked; I was expecting yelling… or silence, anything but a hug. What happened to her when she was gone?

When she pulled away from me, still smiling, she looked me in the eyes and said, "Yeah… I understand. I have those kind of days too."

And with that, she walked past me heading towards the stairs.

When she reached the bottom step she stopped and turned back to me. I was so shocked that I hadn't said anything; looking at me she giggled and ran back to me, then standing on her toes she gave my cheek a peck. Still giggling she had said, "You'll always be my brother. Good night, Natsu."

With that she ran up the stairs to her room and slammed the door at the top. All the while I was just standing there like an idiot, I had no idea what had happened, but I'll take it as long as she knows that I'm sorry and that I love her.

Looking up from the blankets piled on top of me, I can see that it's 5:00 in the morning. Reaching over, I turn off my alarm.

 _Sigh_ Okay time to get up for the day; and with that I fling the blankets off me.

* * *

By the time I leave the house it's 5:30. I try to be as silent as possible when I make my way down the hall way and stairs, and to the door; everyone is still sleeping, and the last time my foster parents woke up it was hard to explain what I was doing and where I was going this early in the morning without giving specific details. I mean school doesn't start until 8:30 and I only meet Lisanna 30 minutes before that.

But, I'm successful in making it out of the house. Smiling to myself I start to run down the street in my workout clothes.

Running faster, my smile only grows as I get closer to my destination.

When I finally get there, I slow down enough to look at an old boxing gym that looks like no one's been there in years. At the front of the building in faded blue letters announces the name of the gym, _Ice Make._ I smile, breathing through my mouth as I look at it in all its glory; this, this is the one place I can just relax.

This place is about 10 minutes away from where I live on foot and probably 20 minutes away from school, so it's a perfect place to go when I don't want to be around certain people.

I pull out a key that my friend gave me to the place and enter through the dust-covered doors.

I head straight to the locker room to put my stuff away. In there I see another person's things out on a bench and I smile cause I know exactly whose things they are.

I quickly make my way back to the boxing area and who do I see, but Grey.

This guy; he's like a brother to me, in more ways than one. We were orphans together, way back when we were still in elementary school. Sure, we hated each other at first, but once we got over that we became brothers, and no matter where either one of us are, no matter what stupid things we've done, we'll always be brothers.

"Hey, Ice Princess what are you doing here?" I call out to him.

He turns around and looks at me with his snarky smile as usual and replies, "I'm here to beat your lazy ass, Fire for Brains!"

"Yeah right! Not even in your dreams could you beat me."

"We'll see." He says as he starts to put on boxing gloves and head towards the ring.

Smiling I mimic his moves and take off my shirt and head towards the ring.

With both of us ready to box, we start to circle each other. After a second I see him smirk and then swing, I dodge and try for a swing myself. He dodges just as easily as I did. And with that we start a match.

Looking at Grey as we continue the fight, I can see the necklace around his neck shine. It reminds me of when we lived in the foster home together. He's always had it, he once told me his dad gave it to him before he died and Grey became an orphan. He probably would still be living with our foster parents too if he hadn't gotten adopted. And, yeah, I'm sad that Grey's no longer there, but I'm happy that he has a family who chose to have him. If I can remember correctly the lady who adopted him was a chick named Ur. She already had a child named Ultear, but after she had her, the doctors told her that because of difficulties with the birth Ur could no longer have any more kids. So, she adopted Grey and another guy, um… Lyon I think. He and Grey don't really get along, but they're brothers never the less.

This time I go in swinging, hoping to catch him on the cheek, but he easily dances out of the way and with a quick jab whacks me in the back of the head. I stumble forward a step or two and I can hear Grey give a laugh behind me. Turning, I go in to hit him again and he tries to counter, but neither of us make contact that time and we continue the little dance of blocking and punching.

Ur is the one that owns this joint and she's taught Grey everything he knows. I know Ur is a single mother, but I don't know what happened to her husband and I don't ask, it's not really my place to ask. Anyway, Grey introduced this place to me back in middle school and ever since then I've been training here; fighting, boxing, and just working out. It's a great place to forget about your life outside; I come here to work off steam and to forget my problems.

Suddenly a fist interrupts my thoughts and slams right into my stomach and I arch forward.

Hph… felt that one.

Grey laughs and I take that as my opportunity to take a swing at him and land a blow on his cheek. I smile and we both stagger away from each other.

When I look up, he does too and he's the first one to break the silence, "Well, that was a good training session, don't you think?"

"Heh, yeah it was." I say and exit the ring; I walk over to one of the benches and grab a towel. I run it over my face when Grey says, "You were a little out of it, is something up?"

What? Is it really that obvious? I mean, where do I start there's this project, Lisanna, school, the foster home… and the biggest problem of all, the Blonde. But, I can't tell Grey that.

"Uh, yeah I just had a fight with Wendy yesterday."

"Ah man, what did your stupid self do."

"It was idiotic, but it's over now and it all worked out. Everything's fine."

He just looked at me skeptically, but didn't push anymore. "Okay, whatever man."

We fell silent and I take a sip of my water and throw a fresh towel to Grey as he sits on the bench next to me.

"Okay, I'm going to take a shower before I leave for school." I say after a few seconds of silence in which we both catch our breath and drink water.

But as I start to get up Grey says, "Wait… there was something I wanted to talk to you about."

I sit back down and wait for him to continue.

"Okay, well me and Juvia have been together for nearly a year and… well, you know how it's a four day weekend? We have Monday and Tuesday off? Well…" before he finished, I can see him reach over to his gym bag and pull something out of the side pocket.

Turning back to me he continues his sentence, "I got two tickets to a ski lodge in the mountains for the long weekend; just me and Juvia all weekend. Do you think it's a good idea… or is it a little rushed? Do you think she'll even say yes?"

When Grey finishes his questions, he just looks at me like I have all the answers in the world and… I can't hold it in any longer. I burst out laughing.

"BWAHAHAHAHAHA! Dude your face is priceless hahahaha!"

"Shut up!" he says as he lightly punches my arm.

Still chuckling, I say, "Dude, of course she's going to say yes! Quit being so nerves or she'll leave hahaha, and hey I'm sure you guys are going to have a lot of fun."

"Thanks man."

He chuckles, "I'm always here for you bro. Anyway, I'm going to get that shower, Lisanna would kill me if I turned up smelling like this."

Grey makes a face like he just smelled rotten eggs and said, "Dude, let me give you some advice. Dump that chick. Yeah, she's hot, but she's hazardous and if you stay too close to something like that you'll eventually become hazardous too. She's bad news."

"Yeah, yeah," I say waving him off; all he does is shake his head. And with that I head to the shower stalls in the locker room.

Once I got into the shower I can feel the cool water wash over me and I just stand there, slowly letting the water run over me.

 _Sigh_ I have to work on this project. And I need to get a good grade otherwise I won't graduate this year.

…But I haven't even gotten a grade above a C all year… how am I going to pull this off?

Dirty Poor won't help me, she'll only laugh. _Sigh_ I guess I'll just have to wing it like usual.

I shut off the shower and get out; as I dry myself off I can hear Grey in the other room getting ready for the day.

"So… Grey, when are you and Juvia leaving for this ski lodge?"

"Huh, oh Friday, right after school," I can hear him answer through the door.

Pulling on my pants, I head out to see him with a fresh uniform on. Grey goes to a private school across town from the public school I go to, which is where he met Juvia. "Well, I hope you guys enjoy the snow."

"How about you? Doing anything for the long weekend?"

"Hmmm, I think Lisanna has something planned, but I'll stay probably be at home, if I'm not here working out." I throw on my shirt and look at the clock hanging on the wall.

 _Shit!_ Is it really 8?

I have to meet Lisanna… like, _right now!_

Aww, man I'm going to be late, she's going to kill me. I have to leave, now!

Grabbing my stuff, I start running for the door, and yell behind my shoulder, "See ya Grey, don’t screw up too badly today!" And with that I disappear out the door, I can vaguely hear Grey yell back, “I’m not the screw up here, you are!” I start racing down the street running towards school.

* * *

I rush into the school building and I'm breathing heavily. I ran the whole way here and with the work out from this morning I'm already tired.

When I burst through the cafeteria doors, I slow my pace. I can see Lisanna with Sting and her two friends at the center of a large crowd. I look up at the clock to see that it's 8:16.

Damn I'm so late.

When I finally reach the crowd, they part as usual and I walk up to Lisanna with a cool smile plastered on my face.

"Hey," I say with my regular tone, I’ve got to make sure that the 'perfect couple' stays perfect, even if I know Lisanna is pissed. I mean that's what we do; we're Natsu and Lisanna, right?

"Hey, honey," Lisanna answers the same way I did, normal. Then she kisses my check like we do every day, but before she pulled away she whispered in my ear, "Where have you been? I had to enter the school by _myself_ , people will start talking."

When she pulls away, I could see there were warning signs in her eyes and that I had better be careful as to what I said next.

Scratching the back of my neck, I answered her by saying, "Sorry, I had, a uh -thing this morning."

"Well, whatever. As long as it doesn't happen again." And with that she turns back to the crowd and smiles that wide grin of hers, as if nothing had happened.

"So, I'm having this _huge_ party on Friday! Everyone is invited of course, it's going to be so big that it'll take everyone at least three days to recover! Got it!"

"But why this Friday? Is there something special happening?" Some random person from the crowd asks.

"No. Why do I need a reason to throw a party, except for the fact that since it's a four day weekend I can go as crazy as I want?" Lisanna replied.

There was a lot of talk then, everyone was planning on who they were going to go with and what they were going to wear.

That is until Lisanna cut through the noise and said loud enough for everyone to hear, "So, tell everyone you know about it! There will be drinks, so make sure you can hold your alcohol, I don't want another repeat of what happened at the last party I through, 'kay? I want everyone who walks through my door to have at least one other person with them. I want this party to be HUGE. It starts at 9." The crowd was quiet and they were all just looking at Lisanna, who looked back and after a second said, "You can leave now, go tell people about the party."

With that command, the swarm of people left to spread the news of the coming affair.

I sling my arm around Lisanna and finally greet Sting with a nod of my head. He nods back and as I was about to start walking, Lisanna stops us.

When I look down at what she was doing, she has an annoyed look on her face and she looks right past me. So, I follow her gaze and standing at the end of it is Dirty Poor. And I mean, wow did that nickname fit her now more than ever.

She was wearing this large, grey t-shirt that just looked dirty, then she had sweat pants on and her hair was up in a messy bun. She looked huge wearing that shirt and just unappealing all around.

What was I worrying about the other day? Even if she told people how I couldn't understand old English who would believe her, or even care? Whatever she has to say, I doubt anyone would listen.

"What are you staring at Fatty? Do you wish you could have someone to love you? Not like that would ever happen... well, maybe if you stayed out of the pantry. And got new clothes. Poor much?"

When Lisanna said that last sentence, I cringed inwardly because I know, I know what it feels like to not have the money to buy new shoes or a new top even if you really, really need it because you don't have the money and neither do your parents –well in my cause no parents at all-. But I quickly shake the feeling away and grin at what Lisanna said because everyone else is laughing.

Then Dirty Poor spoke, "Um… no actually I was hoping to speak to Natsu really quick."

Everyone got quiet when she said this and it was silent, you know that really awkward what-do-I-do-with-my-hands type of silence.

Even the girl looked down at her shoes not knowing what to say.

Until Lisanna finally spoke, "What? Do you want to confess your love for him?" with that both Sorano and Yukino began to snicker.

"No, it's ac-," Dirty Poor tried to correct her, but then Sorano cut her off and said, "Yeah, do you want him to sweep you off your feet. Hahahaha"

Now it’s Yukino's turn to say something, "Well that's too bad cause you're too fat for anyone to be able to sweep you off your feet." Here the group bursts into laughter again accompanied by Sting. I just stay silent; why is she here?

After the group quieted down a bit, Dirty Poor said, "Um, no actually I was here to talk to Natsu about the English Project. You know the one about a Shakespearean play."

When I heard this, I perked up. This was not a subject I want people to know about, not at school, not the people in front of me, and especially not Lisanna. So, I grab her by the shoulders and start leading her away from the small group.

"Um, you guys go on ahead I'll catch up to you. I'll just see what Dirt Poor needs; she's pathetic really," I call over my shoulder to them. And with that I turn us down a hallway, away from everyone.

When no one is around us I turn back to Dirty Poor. She looks up at me and says a little peeved, "Get your hand off me."

I hadn't even realized I still had my hand on her shoulder from when I was steering us down the hallway.

Taking my hand off I sigh when I say, "What is it you want?"

"Well, we didn't get anything done yesterday at the library-"

"Yeah, so what," I said. When I look down at her, I can see she's getting frustrated. She starts to count before she looks back at me.

She seems to have calm down a bit and looks to have decide on something; when we make eye contact again I can see that her eyes are hard and determined as she said, "Listen, I know I said I could take a zero, but that doesn't mean I want one, okay. We need to work on this project together and obviously what we did yesterday just wasn't working."

I snort, "Obviously."

When I repeated what she said she just looks at me pointedly and continues, "So I think we need to try something different. Meet me at my house tonight instead of the library, okay?"

"What, why?! That's weird; I don't want to go to your dirt poor place."

This time she just looks annoyed, "Do you think I want your ass there! Hell no, if I had a choice we would never see each other again, but- _sigh_ Just come, okay. I have something planned and I think it'll work for both our benefits. Here's my address, same time 4:00, I'll see you then." And with that she hands me a slip of paper and left.

That was weird; but she's right we need to try something else if we're going to get this project done right. I hope she knows what she's doing because I'm totally lost when it comes to anything Shakespeare.

As I make my way to wherever Sting and Lisanna went, I look down at the address she gave me. Her handwriting is neat and bubbly, if that makes any sense. I was expecting it to look more like a guy's ugly chicken scratch.

I read her address to myself… I have no idea where this place is, _sigh_ seems like another day of scavenger hunting for some location in town.

When I see Lisanna at the end of the main hall, I put the Fatty's slip of paper in my back pocket and smile at Lisanna, making my way over to her.

When I finally get there, she asks me, "What is it that Fatty wants?"

"Oh, um, she just wanted to make sure I'm at the library at 4:30 again today so we can work on the project."

"Oh, poor baby, it's too bad you got stuck with her, me and Sting have gotten some nerd in his history class to work on it for us—," when she said this she looked directly at Sting, and as she continued they both stare at each other and share a small smile, like they shared some kind of joke, "—though we have to study together to make sure we don't get caught, so we spend a lot of time together—," it was silent for a couple of seconds, but when Lisanna finally broke her stare with Sting, she turned back to me and finished with, "—studying, of course."

And with that she grabs my arm and puts it around her shoulders and starts talking to Yukino and Sorano about her party this weekend.

I drift off after that, thinking about what Dirt Poor had said to me. What can she possible have that's 'new' for us to try? And even if she really did find something, I still can't read the play, it makes no sense to me and if I don't understand it, how are we going to make a poster for it without her doing all of the work like she said she wouldn't do? And if she won't work on all of it we're going to get a low grade, but she says she doesn't want a low grade… Man chicks are confusing.

"Hey, Natsu baby, you're coming to the party, right?" I vaguely hear Lisanna ask me in the background of my thoughts.

"Hmmm," snapping out of my daze, I say," Oh, um yeah, of course I'll be there, why would I miss it?"

"Good, make sure you're there early, 'kay." And with that Lisanna gives me a large kiss on the mouth.

Then the bell rings and Lisanna says, "Well I've got to go to the bathroom so why don't you guys head to class before us ladies. See you Natsu, and Sting we'll also meet after school to work on the project. This time it'll be at your house." She then winks at us and turns, heading down the hallway.

Shaking my head, I turn to Sting, who's just smiling. He smacks me on the back and says, "I also have something to do before class starts, so later Natsu," and then leaves in the opposite direction.

 _Sigh_ Time to do it all over again. And with that I head to


	6. There's you, then there's me

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> They finally start that English project and see each other in a different light...

_Natsu's POV_

Where the hell is her house!?

I've been searching for the past hour!

It's nearly 4:30 and I'm lost. I checked all the houses in town and nothing; there was no sign of a 5614 Oak Land. And when I asked some lady if maybe she knew where it was, SHE just laughed at me! Like, What the Hell! Seriously!

Luckily some dude who owned a store off main street told me that it was somewhere up-town. But I think he was just messing with me, there's _no way_ Dirt Poor lives up here, I mean just look at the way she dresses. If she had money, you would think she would have something better to wear other than the rags she has.

5608, 5610, 5612… 5614… what?

There is no way she lives HERE! It's Huge! She must have given me the wrong address, maybe she meant 5614 Oak Lane. Yeah, yeah that must be it.

But this house looks so nice. Even if she doesn't live here, I wish I could. I bet the family here eats crumpets on the perfectly mowed lawn with tea on Sunday mornings just because. I bet they don't have to worry about life, or money; I doubt they even think about how much things cost, and they probably just buy what they want.

I bet the mother and father are loving and adore their child. A perfect family, no room for mistakes like me… or Dirt Poor. Doubt they even think about people like us.

I bet they don't have to worry about Shakespeare projects and dropping out of school.

Whatever; even if it isn't Dirt Poor's place, this'll probably be the last time I get a chance to be in a neighborhood like this, let alone get this close to a house this big. So, I'll ding-dong even if the owners don't know me. I'll just blame it all on Blonde for giving me the wrong address.

Heading to the front door, I walk up the porch steps and ring the doorbell. Even from behind the door I can hear the grand bell ring throughout the house, it even echoes.

I wait patiently by the door trying to figure out what to say when the owners answer and I need an excuse to give them. When the door finally opens, I start to speak only to be stopped short by what I see. Or rather who I see.

There standing in front of me is Dirt Poor, wearing the same baggy shirt, sweat pants and messy bun she had on at school.

What is she doing here? Maybe she knows the family that owns the place, cause there's no way she lives here.

"Hey," she says as she gestures for me to come in.

I just step in with my mouth still agape.

"Um, you don't live here, do you?" I ask her. She just looks at me funny and says in reply, "Yeah, why else would I tell you to come over to my house?"

"But, but… if this is your house, then that means you're rich… or at least close to it."

She rolls her eyes and says, "My father's rich. Me on the other hand, I have nothing."

I just look at her. What the hell does that mean! "What?! That doesn't make sense."

She just rolls her eyes again and walks past me without saying a word. But the more I look at her in her cheap clothes in this expensive mansion, I just get more confused and she just looks more ridiculous. Why on earth would a person _choose_ to look like that when they obviously could have whatever they want?

And why doesn't anyone know about this? I mean, I would have told everyone. I bet she would actually have friends if people knew… this chick is just weird.

I follow her into a room that looks to be the living room. It has two couches and a large flat-screen, a nice clean carpet with a coffee table at the center of the room and a fire place. Typical, just when I thought I wasn't the only one with money problems even Dirt Poor here is loaded… guess I'm going to have to stop calling her Dirt Poor, huh.

There's a large window in the living room which allows you to see out into the front lawn and the room makes you feel at ease, like you're at home.

Wow, that's one word I **do not** want to use to describe Blonde's house.

When I look back, she's gone. Shit where did she go! I can't be left here alone, what do I do!? Can I sit down!? But it's so clean, I can't possible sit down. Where did she go?! I can't go wondering around her house looking for her, that's creepy. What do I do?!

Before I knew it, she was back, and in her hands she has holding two glasses of water.

She sets them both on the coffee table and then we make eye contact. After a second of staring at each other she bursts into laughter. This takes me aback. Why's she laughing?!

"What are you doing, why are you laughing?!"

Between giggles she says, "Your face is priceless hahaha, it looks like you were freaking out hahaha I only left for like a second."

"Humph, it isn't funny, and I was freaking out," I say pouting and crossing my arms.

Her giggles start to die down when she replies, "Yes, it was."

When I turned back to her, she had one of the glasses extended to me, "For you."

I wasn't expecting that, so I just un-cross my arms and take the water from her, "Um, thanks."

"Sure thing. If you need anything just ask, okay? Bathroom's down the hall if you need it."

With that she turns on her heels and leaves the room, I can see her as she climbs the stairs to the second story. "Just stay there, I'll be back in a second; I need to grab something from my room." Then she disappears out of sight.

"Um… okay. I guess I'll just stay here," I say to no one in particular.

Why is she being so nice all of a sudden? We hate each other. Why is she being so helpful? Yesterday I literally snapped at her and she just wants to help me, who does that? She didn't even say anything at school, this feels like a trap.

I take a small sip of water while I wait for Blonde to come back down the stairs with whatever it is she has.

When she finally gets back she has a ton of stuff in her hands. For one, there's the poster board, markers, paper, pens and just a whole bunch of stuff. Then there's this yellow notebook she has mixed in there with all the equipment.

"Okay, so I know we probably won't actually be getting to the poster today, but I just wanted to show you I have the stuff we need for it."

"Yeah, stuff…" When the teacher said poster board, I thought he meant the information just needed to be on it, not all this other stuff like colorful markers and construction paper.

"Okay, this here is for you to read," at this, I look up from the pile at her. She's holding out the yellow notebook and I take it from her.

"What is it," I say as I quickly leaf through the pages.

"Well, yesterday you seemed confused when reading the play. And, you know, I figured it was because of the way it was written, in Shakespearean language. So, I went through it and made this for you," she then takes the notebook from me and turns it to a specific page. "It's kind of like a translation, from old English to how we speak now. It'll make it easier for you to understand what's going on in the play."

When she hands back the notebook, I look at it and what she said was true. But… why? Why would she do this for me? We're enemies, I mean my friends and I make fun of her for Peter's sake. No one is this nice.

I don't know if she read my body language or if she just knew I would be skeptical about this because the next thing she said was, "Listen, I know this is weird especially since we don't like each other, but… I know what it's like to not understand something and I want to help you out. You're not stupid, you just need a little more of a push than others. And well, I'm here to give you that push."

Wow, no one's ever done that for me before. Maybe she really is just doing this to help me. Maybe she's not just some loser nerd who's only out for the grade.

"Thanks… Lucy." And with that, I open the yellow notebook and start reading it.

* * *

_Lucy's POV_

What? Did he just say my name? Like my real name, not just some nickname from school.

I smile fondly as I watch him reading the notebook I made last night after my talk with Wendy. He slowly makes his way to the couch, reading all the while.

He really is cute when he's concentrating… WAIT, Stop right there! Don't do this Lucy, don't get emotionally attached, this is just business like your dad taught you. In order to get that good grade, we have to work together.

But still, I'm glad I can actual help him today and he hasn't pushed away yet so that's a plus.

It's weird though, having him in my house. It's weird having anyone in my house really, I'm so used to being here alone. I guess I might have gotten a little carried away at first; it's just that my 'host instincts' kicked in and I couldn't help but be polite.

Now what should I do while Natsu reads the play. It shouldn't take too long; the play is fairly short.

I guess I'll set up the paper and start the outline of the play.

By the time Natsu was done reading, I had already started the first sketch of information.

"Hey, Lucy, I'm done reading it."

"Oh? How did you like it?" I ask him.

"Well, it's better than Romeo and Juliet; no one dies at the end in this one."

I laugh at that, "That's true. Why don't you come over here and help me with the outline?”

I'm sitting cross-legged at the coffee table when Natsu jumps off the couch and joins me on the floor.

"Okay, so where are you at?" He asks me.

"Well I just finished explaining how Rosalind and Celia left Celia's father/ Rosalind's uncle to live in the forest in search for Rosalind's banished father." I reply to him.

When I look up from my paper, he has a concentrated face on when he says, "Oh, yeah doesn't, um… Rosalind dress-up like a man to keep them safe, or something like that."

"Yeah! It looks like that notebook helped you out, huh?"

He looks really relieved when I said that. "It sure did. I was so lost before, and it really worried me because I really need a good grade on this project and well it seemed like you were going to leave me hanging out to dry, so I was beginning to sweat. But, all thanks to you, everything is a lot clearer and we can finally get started on this project."

"I'm glad. Now what happened after they got to the forest?" I ask him.

"Well, that dude Orlando was also there because he was running away from his older brother, right; because his older brother was going to turn him into the Duke for beating his favorite wrestler. Which is insane, who does that?"

"I totally agree, like get over it dude, your guy's just a wimp and Orlando is just extremely strong."

When our eyes meet, we burst into laughter; it was so ridiculous, that it was funny.

"My favorite part though is when Rosalind, pretending to be a guy, has Orlando 'woo' him to prove his love for Rosalind, even though the ‘guy’ Orlando is talking to is really Rosalind herself. It's just so crazy."

"I agree. Then you have Celia and Orlando's older brother. They fall in love instantly; this play's just a bunch of people falling in love with each other, isn't it." Natsu says.

"Hahaha, it really is. Though I guess it all works out in the end; I mean they all get married and un-banished." I add.

"You were right in saying this play is interesting, I don't think I've ever read anything like it before."

After about an hour of us outlining what we're going to put on the poster and how we plan on laying it out on the board, it was late.

"Hey Natsu, do you want to stay for dinner?" I ask.

I can't believe I just said that to a guy who's been tormenting me for years. But the thing is, once you get to know him, he's not actually that bad. Funny even.

"No, I'm going to head home." He says as he finishes cleaning up all the stuff we had out. Sitting back down in front of me he continues, "Oh, right, I wouldn't be able to work on the project this Friday cause Lisanna is throwing this crazy party and I need to be there."

Man, I nearly forgot about him and Lisanna.

Lisanna; there's a person I know I won't get along with. The feeling of guilt arises in my stomach again. Should I tell him about Lisanna and Sting?

No, I mean it's not really my place and you know, he's actually a decent guy and I don't want to be the one to tell him, and then have him hate me. But he deserves to know.

 _Gahhh_ I don't know what to do.

Everyone sees them as some power couple because they can 'make it through anything' by breaking up and getting back together as often as they do; their whole thing just doesn't make sense to me.

But that's how people think it is because, well, Natsu and Lisanna are the King and Queen of the school. And nothing is going to change.

I can't help it though, I just… I just want to know what Natsu really thinks about his whole relationship with Lisanna.

"Hey, um Natsu, before you leave I have a question for you. If that's alright of course, it's kind of personal."

"Oh, that's fine. As long as I also get to ask you a personal question."

"Fair enough… ok, so, why do you go out with Lisanna? ...I mean it's kind of obvious you guys don't really get along, exceptionally when you guys break-up like every other weekend and then just get back together later on in the week? It just doesn't make any sense to me and I want to know why."

He seems to think about it for a second and then looks at me, replying completely serious, "Isn't it what we're supposed to do? The popular guy goes out with the popular girl; it's just the typical thing, it's what everyone expects us to do." It was silent after that.

What he said took me off guard, but once I thought about it, it was true. I can't really see Natsu with anyone else _but_ Lisanna. It’s just what it is; a typical thing. It sounds lonely though.

Natsu suddenly continued, "And besides it's not all bad. There are some good moments."

I nod; I guess I can see that. I mean a person can't be horrible all the time.

"Okay now it's my turn to ask the questions." Natsu says with a devilish grin spreading across his face.

Oh gosh, I forgot about that. I'm suddenly getting nervous; I wonder what he wants to know.

"Okay, so I've been wondering this ever since I got here; it's obvious you're not poor like you look like at school. I mean just look at this place, it's huge!"

"Yeah…" I say a bit skeptical, where is he going with this?

"So, why? Why do you dress like you're poor, when people call you on it, why don't you correct them? Like come on, one of your nicknames at school is literally Dirt Poor... Why not flaunt it, if you have it? You're filthy rich and yet nobody knows about it, why?" He finally finishes his question.

Now it's my turn to think of an answer. To be honest, this money, I don't want it. It's my father's money not mine, and trust me when I say I don't want to owe that man anything. He can keep his cash I don't need it.

"Well… I guess it's like I said before. I'm not rich my father is; none of this wealth belongs to me. And besides, by not flaunting my money I can see who's sincere and really my friend and not just pretending to be it."

After I say this, Natsu seems like he thinks about what I said, when he replies with, "Well that's stupid, from what I can tell, you only have one friend, um the blue haired chick, I think Lisanna calls her Nobody."

"Her name's Levy and yes, she's the only one, but one sincere friend is so much better than a whole school full of fake ones." I say smiling fondly when I think of Levy.

"Yeah, sure, whatever you say." With that Natsu lays back on the ground and stretches.

Rolling me eyes fondly I get up and head towards the kitchen.

"Hey, where are your parents anyway? Have they been out the whole time I've been here? I mean it's already getting dark out and I haven't seen them once since I got here."

My parents… that's a subject I don't want to talk about right now, so I yell back to Natsu who's still in the living room, "That's personal question number 2 and since I don't have any more questions for you, I don't have to answer that one."

I can hear him groan in the other room and I smile. After putting on the stove with a pot and hot water waiting to be boiled, I walk back into the living room to find Natsu gathering his things.

"Ready to leave?" I ask him.

"Yup." He replies.

I walk him to the front door, opening it for him. "We'll do this again tomorrow, okay. Same time after school."

"Okay," then Natsu turns to face me, "Listen, Lucy... this doesn't change anything. We're not friends and I don't think we ever could be. You're a,” at this he breaks eye contact and looks at the floor before continuing, “a loser and I'm the cool guy, we just don't clash.”

Looking back up, his eyes now hold a resolve in them that takes me a little off guard as he continues to say, “There's you, then there's me, okay? No us, not me and you; just you, and then just me. That's it."

It was silent between us, but, hey what did I expect. Him to fall to his knees and confess that he had a great time and that we should be the best-est of friends. No, and I don't want it that way. He's right there is no us and there never will be; just him and just me, two separate people.

"You don't have to say it. I understand, we're only working on a project together and trust me when I say that's all I want between us." And with that Natsu heads out the door.

Walking away from my house I can hear Natsu call over his shoulder to me, "See you tomorrow Lucy."

"Bye Natsu." And with that I close the door behind him.

After a while, my spaghetti finishes cooking, so I add tomato sauce to it and then sat down at the dining room table by myself. Me dinner is good like usual and the house is silent; the only noise is of me eating.

* * *

By the time I finish my food, it is 7:24, so, I take a shower and get into fresh clothes for the night. Once that’s down I call Levy, I mean how could I not with a night like the one I had.

_"Hey this is Levy, what's up?"_

"Hey Levy, it's Lucy so you know how I told you I was making the notebook for Natsu, so it'll be easier for him to understand the play?"

_"Yeah?"_

"Well, it totally worked! Now we're on the same page and we actual got some of the project down today."

_"Lucy, that's great! To be honest I didn't think it would work, when you told me that he just didn't understand the material, I thought he just didn't even want to try and understand it, but hey, it all worked out, huh."_

"I know right, but the strange thing is, Natsu's actually a nice guy. I mean, we only worked on the project really, but he wasn't how he acts at school; it was a nice change. You were right maybe he acted the way he did yesterday because we were in public and he was embarrassed, it was smart to think of bringing him here; though I really hated the idea at first."

_"Hahaha well you're welcome. And I do give great advice thank you very much."_

"Though, I'm confused Levy! I'm meant to hate this guy, I mean he's been a dick since freshman year and now all of a sudden, it's like _'hey thanks for helping me, I'm going to call you by your name and not some lame-ass nickname anymore, oh and I'll answer whatever personal question you wanted to ask me as long as I get to learn more about you too.'_ What am I supposed to think now? Everything that I've known to be black and white are now smearing and turning into this gray color."

It's silent for a while on both sides of the line until I break the silence by saying, "At least I know I don't like Lisanna and that we will never get along. That seems to be the only thing that's still straight to me and not some blur."

_"Yeah, that girl is evil through and through."_

I laugh at that. "Here I am talking all about me. What's been going on in your life girlie?"

" _Wh-what do you mean? There's nothing, there's no guy I'm thinking about right now."_

"WHAT!? You like someone!? Who?! Tell me. Right. Now."

_"Ah Gesh… fine his name's Gajeel and well, he's kind of a punk, with spiky long hair and a lot of piercings... but I don't know there's just something about him, I mean I saw him the other day helping some abandon kittens in park but he's in a biker gang and calls me shrimp. He acts all tough and he's rough on the outside, but on the inside, he's really just this big softy…"_

As Levy continues to talk, my smile grows. I'm so glad Levy's found someone she likes. She's such a sweet girl, she deserves someone to love and someone who loves her… though a biker, I'll have to check this guy out sometime and make sure he doesn't hurt Levy. And trust me when I say I can scare anyone if I truly need to.

After about thirty minutes of talking with Levy, we hang up and I finish my homework.

After brushing my teeth, I head to bed. If tomorrow is like today, I wouldn't complain.


	7. Back Off

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Trouble is on the horizon

_Lucy's POV_

"Okay class, how have your projects been coming along?" Mr. Dreyar asks the class after the last kid is done coping the notes from the PowerPoint on the projector.

"Good" 's and "Mine's nearly done" 's could be heard throughout the room as most of the students replied to the teacher.

I personally went with, "Well, it's coming along."

"Good, good," the teacher said. "Well since there's still 20 minutes left in class, why don't you guys get into your pairs and continue working on it until the bell rings. I'll be stepping out for a moment to make some copes for next class." And with that Mr. Dreyar left.

To be honest, I don't really mind that I have to work with Natsu. Which surprises me; when we first started this project, I didn't even want to be in the same room as him, but now he's not that bad. I know he said that this changes nothing, but I don't know. It's just different than it was before.

I mean, don't get me wrong, we're nothing close to being friends or even on good terms. But we're not… enemies. We have this unspoken agreement.

As I watch people around me get up and head to their partner, I catch Levy out of the corner of my eye and she gives me a sly grin; then, pointing with her eyes, she looks at Natsu who’s surrounded by his friends. Turning back to me, her smile just gets wider as she nods her head in his direct, telling me to go and work with him. And with that she turns to her partner at the front of the room.

I guess she's right, maybe me and Natsu should work on the project together while we have the chance. I mean, we've worked together on it before and it wasn't a complete disaster, and I know he knows the information. So, what's the worst that can happen, we'll just work on the project like we did yesterday.

I glance behind me one more time and see Natsu laughing with Lisanna, Sting, Sorano, and Yukino. Laughing at what, eludes me. But looking at the group is daunting. How am I supposed to walk up to a group of people who've been terrorizing me since freshman year? Am I just meant to walk up to them and say, 'Hey Natsu, Lisanna, Sting, Sorano and Yukino, um do you want to work on the project?'

No, that sounds stupid… how about 'Hey, Natsu let's work on the project together.' …no that's still not good.

Turning to the front of the room I take a deep breath. Okay, I can do this.

Letting out the breath, I get up from my seat and head to the back of the class. As I get closer to the cluster of desks that make up Natsu and his crew, they grow silent and stare at me one by one.

I lift my head up a little higher, I can do this. "Hey, Natsu, do you want to work on the project?"

It's silent after I'm done speaking, but I keep my eyes on Natsu because if I look at anyone else I think I might just lose my nerve. As I look at Natsu, I see something in his eyes. Though his face is straight, there's something in his eyes that seem so conflicted, like he doesn't know whether to accept or decline my offer.

As the silence stretches on I can feel my face grow warmer and warmer, and I silently curse the fact that my face is probably as red as a tomato right now.

Out of the corner of my eye, I see Lisanna looking between me and Natsu, when suddenly she bursts out laughing. "Oh my God! Did she seriously think she could just walk over here and talk to us? This Fatty obviously doesn't know anything; I mean seriously how stupid can you be?"

That's when Sting joins in, chuckling he says, "I couldn't agree with you more. Dirty Poor is probably so broke that she can't afford a brain."

Yukino and Sorano burst out laughing at this, which causes the rest of the class to go silent and look back at us. Smiling that sly grin, Lisanna narrows her eyes and says, "Fatty over here, wants to work on the project with Natsu…" I just shift my eyes and stare at her. I don't say a word, but I look directly at her; I won't give her the satisfaction of saying this stuff with me cowering.

She pauses to really look at me, taking me in, weighing my worth; I can see in her eyes the calculated look she gets when she's trying to find a weak point, a sore spot to embarrass you with in front of everyone.

"… or is it because you have _feelings_ for Natsu and that's why you want to work with him?" When she says this, my jaw tenses and my hands become fists. What is she insinuating; there is _no way_ in hell I could _ever_ like Natsu! Is she seriously this low to make up something so outrageous?

She continues on, smiling, knowing that she hit that sore spot she was looking for. "I bet you even paid the teacher so he'd make you and Natsu partners, using the little money you _do_ have Dirt Poor. You truly are pathetic." Once she said that everyone in the room began to whisper.

I could hear some people saying, "Do you think it's true?" "Well, I think she did; no one gets that lucky to be with the Perfect Man besides Lisanna." "What's wrong with her, can't she see there's no way they'll ever be together." "You're right, Natsu is Lisanna's man." "She's so pathetic it's sad really."

Hearing the comments swirling around the room; my eyebrows furrow and I try to block them out. I look at Natsu then, he has to do something right? I mean, it's not like we're friends but at least he should clear the air because if this doesn't stop now, everyone in the whole school will soon think I paid the teacher to be with Natsu. And that I have this undying love for him. Which isn't true.

But as I look at him and wait for his voice to cut through the noises, I only hear Lisanna's, who says, "Natsu, don't you think this is true? Fatty only wants to gain some of your popularity by getting close to you? Isn't it pathetic?"

I'm trying to ignore what Lisanna said and just focus on Natsu, my eyes are looking directly into his, pleading for him to disagree and as he opens his mouth to speak, I can tell from his eyes that this is going to hurt.

He breaks our eye contact and turns to Lisanna, stating, "Yeah, it kind of scares me, she's like some stalker; she even asked me to come by her house the other day to ‘work’ on the project."

A gasp was heard by several of the more enthusiastic Natsu-fangirls. "I knew she wanted to sleep with him." "Poor Natsu, having to deal with this stalker-slut."

Some of the males in the room even said, "Wow, she's such a stalker! Don't get to close or you might be her next victim!" "Who would want to sleep with that, she's so fat!" "Oh, Natsu if I were you I'd run in the opposite direction, away from this freak."

I look around the room and see some people laughing, others have a look of disgust on their face. I catch Levy looking at me with sadness and sympathy on her face. Turning to the group in front of me, Lisanna, Sting, Sorano, and Yukino are all laughing. Natsu just looks guilty, but when Sting claps him on the back and says in between laughs, "Look at her! She's so pitiful!" Natsu joins in with his own little chuckle.

I just look at him, then to the group surrounding him, and finally to the people surrounding them.

I need fresh air. I need to be anywhere but here right now.

So, I turn, with my back to Natsu and the people laughing at me, I head to the front of the classroom and grab the bathroom pass that's hanging on the wall.

I start walking to the door and the laughter just continues, there doesn't seem to be an end to it in sight.

As I pass Levy's desk I say only for her to hear, "Stay here. I'm ok. I just need a moment. If the teacher comes back, tell him I went to the bathroom."

And she just looks at me and whispers a small, "Ok," as I exit the room.

Once I'm out in the hallway it's just silent. I take a couple of shaky breathes and try to make sense as to what the hell just happened? All I wanted to do was work on this stupid project with Natsu, so maybe, just maybe we could have finished it sooner and we wouldn't have to see each other after school anymore. But then… then Lisanna happen.

She twisted everything and Natsu just let it happen. Are you kidding me! Does he honestly believe the shit she was saying or is he trying to make himself look more desirable, like what? Sure, I invited you over to my house, but that was to _help you_! I didn't have any ulterior motive, and if you did think that then why would you come over in the first place?

Man, what is wrong with this school? What is wrong with the people in this school? What is wrong with Natsu? I thought that maybe, just maybe, we could have been, dare I say it, friends in a distant future. But that's all gone know.

By the time I'm half way down the hallway, trying to put as much distance between me and that classroom as possible I hear a door open and then shoes squeaking as they make their way down the hallway.

I don't turn around, knowing that it's Levy who came after me, I say, "Listen Levy, I'm fine really. Their just being asses and I can take a verbal punch or two, so just go back into the classroom. I just need a little quiet right now."

The squeaking becomes slower, as if Levy is now walking rather than the jogging she was doing a second ago to catch up to me. "I… I uh… just wanted to see if you were alright." At the sound of the deep voice coming from just a few steps behind me, I know that it's defiantly not Levy.

I turn around so fast my own shoes squeak from the friction. And just as I suspected, the man standing before me is Natsu, who's looking at me with so much guilt on his face. My anger just boils to the surface again and I yell, "What the hell, Natsu!"

But before he answers, I continue, "You know what, I don't want to hear it. I can't believe you, and I know that you said nothing changed last night, but honestly, I thought that hey maybe we were on better standings then we were before. Or maybe we could be friends sometime in the future."

I take a couple more breaths and try to calm down a little; I don't want to be screaming in the middle of the hallway at school. I don't need teachers to lecture me about screaming in school right now; I just need time away from that class.

 _Sigh_ "Listen Natsu, I knew nothing was going to change, I knew Lisanna was going to still pick on me and I was going to be a target for you and your posse; what I wasn't expecting was you joining them and making matters worse. I wasn't expecting you to stop it, but you weren't meant to add to the fire. Using the things I say to you and twisting them like Lisanna does. I don't know, I just thought you weren't as low as her. I thought you were better than that. But hey… now I know."

And with that I walk way leaving him behind me as I make it to the end of the hallway. But before I can turn the corner, I feel Natsu's hand grab my wrist and pull me so that I'm facing him again.

Glaring up at him, with only a few inches of space between us, I open my mouth to speak when Natsu beats me to it.  
"I'm sorry, okay? I just… I didn't know what to do. Lisanna was looking at me, and so were you. I had to make a choice-"

"Yeah, well you made the wrong one. And now you'll have to live with whatever happens because of it."

"What did you want me to do? Side with you! I barely know you, and Lisanna's my girlfriend, I can't turn my back on her."

"No. You can't turn your back on being popular and have any chance you can get to tear someone down. You told me yesterday that you're not even with Lisanna because you like her, you're with her because of some crap about it's your job-"

"What do you know about anything?! And it's funny really that you're the one to talk. I bet the real reason you don't tell anyone that you're rich is because you find it funny that the rest of us are broke! I bet you laugh at us behind our backs!"

"No, I don't and this isn't about me, this is about you and what just happened in there!"

"You can't blame this all on me! I told you yesterday that nothing changed and not to come talk to me at school because you're a nerd and I'm cool and us two, we don't mix, losers and preps _don't_ talk!"

"That's funny, cause you seemed like you wanted to talk a lot yesterday when I was helping you with the English project, but yeah, you're right. This just doesn't work; the geek and the jock could never be friends."

After I say this we’re silent, just looking at each other. I’m looking up into his dark eyes as he looks down into my brown ones. Both of us have a frown plastered onto our faces and our eyebrows were furrowed with frustration, he still has his hand firmly wrapped around my wrist and there is only inches between our bodies, and I might have even blushed out of embarrassment if I wasn't so anger.

But then I sigh, and take a step back, saying, "You know what; I don't even know why I'm fighting with you. We're not friends, you don't owe me anything; we're only working on this project together and that's it. There's nothing else to it but that, so I don't care anymore. What happened is a normal occurrence and it's my bad for thinking otherwise." I tug at the arm that Natsu's still holding until it's free and I turn around once again.

When I reach the corner, I call to Natsu behind my shoulder, "Oh and you don't have to worry about 'working' on the project at my house tonight because we won't be doing it today. Go back to the classroom Natsu and be with your 'girlfriend'."

And with that I exit the hallway and turn left, away from Natsu, but before I get too far I hear Natsu groan and kick the lockers next to him, but I don't stop and I continue down the corridor, away from that place.

* * *

Man, I'm hunger. I just want to eat my lunch right now, though it doesn't look that appetizing; school lunch lasagna with some kind of green jello-fruit thing.

It's now lunch and I've calmed down a bit from this morning but I still don't want to see Natsu... or anyone really, accept for Levy.

Speaking of her, I've been trying to find her for the past 5 minutes, where is she? We always have lunch together, so where did she go?

As I pass by a group of girls sitting at a table near the lunch line I just left, I hear them talk.

One girl with short brown hair says, "I heard she used up her week's worth of food money to pay the teacher so she can be partners with Natsu."

The girl sitting next to her started nodding and added, "I heard that too; and honestly, it might do her some good to stop eating all the time, maybe she'd lose some of that weight… though I doubt it."

I just rolled my eyes and kept walking, but the whispers don't stop with the group at the table and as I make my way further down the room more people start to whisper and point.

A guy to my right grabs his friend's shoulder and points at me; a girl to my left leans into a crowded table and says, "I heard she threw herself at him, even asked if he wanted to come over to her house to do it. But he rejected her, I even heard he nearly throw up when she offered."

A guy who was listening to the girl added, "Hahaha I bet he nearly got crushed when she threw herself on him." And with that everyone in earshot range laughed at what the guy said.

Man, these people are so ignorant; do they really not have anything better to talk about than my make-believe life; though the rumors seem to be spreading faster than usual.

Where is Levy? I don't really want to be alone right now. Don't get me wrong, I'm tough, but Levy helps me forget about the world around me and that's something I need right now.

Finally, I spot Levy by the back wall of the cafeteria; a relieved smile comes across my face when I see her and I start heading towards her direction. As I look at her, she turns her head and sees me. I give her a smile and she waves me over, when suddenly I'm falling.

I land flat on my face and my lunch is everywhere. The lasagna lands mostly on my t-shirt along with the jello-fruit mixture. Looking down, my shirt looks like some hideous art piece of reds and greens.

I hear laughter behind me and it soon spreads to the rest of the cafeteria. _Sigh_ of course she would come at me during lunch.

As I get up off the floor, Lisanna, Yukino, and Sorano are looking down at me with smug smiles.

Lisanna's the first one to speak when she says, "So you think you can just be with Natsu? You think you can through yourself at him without any consequences? He's my boyfriend and we're perfect together, do well to remember this. Stay in your place and don't even think about Natsu anymore. He's mine."

I just look at her, is she serious? Is she really doing this here… it's just pathetic. I wonder if she means anything she's saying or if it's just to prove a point, make an example of me.

It appears to be working though because I hear a couple of girls sitting at the table next to me say, "Well, what did she expect? Natsu _is_ Lisanna's man; no one can touch him except Lisanna."

 _Sigh_ "Listen-" I begin to say before I'm cut off by Sorano, "Back off of Natsu because the only girl even worthy enough to be with him is Lisanna and, well, some loser doesn't deserve to be anywhere close to him." Yukino just nods.

Rolling my eyes, I reply to the trio, "Oh, you don't have to worry about me and Natsu; we're only talking to each other because of this project. Once it's over, we're done and you won't have to be concerned over Natsu and me ever again."

That's when Yukino chuckles and says, "Yeah, right. I bet you tried to be with Natsu, but he turned you down. And now you're just trying to play it off."

I just roll my eyes again and mumble, "Believe whatever you like," not loud enough for anyone to hear.

And with that I push past them and head to the girl’s bathroom to clean myself up.

Once I get there I turn on the sink and grab a paper towel. Wetting it, I start to dab at the lasagna stain, but the water does little to help get out the large red mark.

 _Sigh_ I hear someone enter the bathroom and I just close my eyes, waiting for whoever it is to leave, but then I feel someone's hand on my shoulder.

When I turn around, Levy's there with a sad expression on her face. The moment I see her standing there beside me, the blank face I was wearing cracks becoming a small broken smile. I'm so glad she's here.

After a moment of silence, Levy says, "There's no way you'll get a lasagna stain out of your shirt with just water, you'll have to wait until you get home."

"I was afraid you'd say that. But hey, don't you think the lasagna goes nicely with greenish jello?"

Levy starts to laugh which makes me smile, I'm glad the atmosphere is lighter than it was a second ago.

As Levy's giggling dies down, she asks, "Would you like to borrow my gym shirt?"

Before I could reply, I hear laughter coming from the doorway and again I see Lisanna standing there.

"Are you sure it will fit the Fatty? Cause, though it pains me to say, _you_ are small and skinny, but Dirt Poor over there isn't, all she'll do is stretch out your clothes Miss Nobody." She says.

Levy glares at Lisanna and opens her mouth to say something, but before anything escapes her mouth, I cut her off. "No, it's fine Levy. I'd rather just wear my own clothes; it's nearly the end of the day anyway, thanks though. You've always got my back."

Kicking herself off the wall, Lisanna rolls her eyes and starts walking over to me and Levy saying, "Whatever," as she does so; a little annoyed that we ignored her comment.

When she finally reaches us, she pushes Levy out of the way; removing her from my side. Leaning in to get close to me she says, only loud enough for me to hear, "I don't know what you and Natsu have been up to, but you better back off."

I'm dumbfounded, what the hell is she talking about? We haven't been up to anything except the project, and we've only just recently started on it.

“That’s rich coming from the girl who’s always banging his best friend.” I say, suddenly I feel pain strike my check and I can hear Levy gasp. Lisanna just glares harder at me, lowering her hand as she says, "I don't know what's going on between the two of you, but Natsu has _never_ second guessed my command like he did today. Natsu _will_ not disobey me again, understand. So, stay away."

I look her in the eyes after I hear this, and just stare at her.

All I see is an ice-cold glare that is anxious to keep power, which makes the person underneath angry that they have such a weakness.

"You don't have to worry about it," I say steady and serious, "There is _nothing_ between me and Natsu."

"Hmmm," Lisanna hummed as she pulls back and starts heading towards the bathroom door. "Just remember that what happened today could have been much worse."

"Is that a threat?" I call to her retreating back, but I get no reply.

* * *

_Natsu's POV_

_Thump, Thump, Thump_

I'm breathing heavy as I hit the punching bag again.

I came to the boxing arena that Grey's family owns, so I could work off some steam about what happened today.

I came right after school, cause, well, it's not like I can work with Lucy on the project and pretend like nothing happened.

 _Thump_. What the hell was I supposed to do? Side with her? There's no way I could have done that, I have friends and a girlfriend that I have to agree with.

I barely know her. _Thump._

We're not friends. _Thump._

I told her nothing was going to change. _Thump, thump, thump._

Then why the hell am I feeling this way?! Why do I keep thinking about her?

Maybe she was right, I shouldn't have said anything… but what was I meant to do with Lisanna looking at me like that? _Thump._

 _Sigh_ and then everything got twisted, and Lisanna had to go and make up those ridiculous lies telling people that Lucy paid the teacher to be my partner. It's completely obvious that we don't like each other so who would even believe that lie?

UHHGGG _thump, Thump, THUMP._

Why do I even care! It's not like this is the first time a rumor was spread about Lucy. Why do I suddenly care?

Maybe it's because she's actually nice, helping me out with English. No one's ever done that, all my previous partners have just done the work for the both of us.

Why am I such an ass?

But I didn't have a choice!

_Thump, thump, thump._

I stop punching the bag and grab it, resting my forehead against the cool leather as I take in large gulps of air trying to steady my heart beat once again. That's when I hear the double doors to the back-office swing open and I hear someone enter the boxing area.

"Hey, Fire Brain, what's up?" Grey asks as he makes his way towards me.

"Nothing," I say as I straighten up.

Setting his bag on a bench close to me, he says, "Don't give me that crap. Last time I let it slide, but I wouldn't let you do that a second time."

I just stay silent.

"Hey, come on tell me. I'm your best friend, let me help you."

As I look at Grey, he's standing over his gym back ruffling through the pockets. And well, maybe he's right. I came here to get Lucy out of my head, but that's all I've been thinking about since I've gotten here.

"… Ok," I say. Before I go on, I make my way to the bench Grey's at, as I sit down I start to take off the tape that's around my hand.

"It's, well it's this girl. I've known her since freshman year and, well, we've never gotten along. Then on Monday we get assigned to do a project together, right? Well, unlike other partner's I've had in the past that would just do the work for the both of us. She refused to do that, even though she's perfectly capable, I mean she has straight A's for Pete's sake. Anyway, she threatened me into working on the project with her, but when she noticed I didn't understand it, she helped me out…"

"I don't really see the problem here." Grey says.

"Well, the thing is, today during class we had time to work on it… and well, Lisanna, being her usual self, started stirring up trouble. And when they both asked me to pick a side, I chose Lisanna's. I mean she's my girlfriend; I had to choose her, right? Then me and this girl got into a huge fight about it. _Sigh_ and now, this girl hates me, I tried to explain how it was, but even I know I was in the wrong. But what else could I do, I barely know her and I'm dating Lisanna." After I say this, it's quiet.

Grey doesn't say anything for a while. When he finally let's out a breath the first thing he says is, "Well, whoever this girl is, I like her. She won't put up with your bullshit and she actually seems like a decent person, unlike the chick you've been dating the last couple years." It goes silent again as I process what Grey just told me.

After a moment he continues, "Listen man, I'm not trying to tell you what to do; date whoever you want, be friends with whoever you like. All I'm saying is that this girl doesn't seem like someone you should just give up on because your friends or even your girlfriend doesn't like her. She seems like a person you should try to keep around. You need more people in your like who won't put up with your shit and stand by you… just think about it."

And with that Grey zipped up his gym bag and slung it over his shoulder, "Besides, someone who has fire for a brain is going to need all the help he can get."

"Shut up, ice princess!" I say, and we both start laughing.

"Ok, I'm heading out know. Remember, you won't be seeing me for a couple of days cause me and Juvia are going to that ski lodge for the weekend and we're heading out tomorrow afternoon. I'll see you next week." With that Grey starts heading to the doors.

But before he leaves, I say, "Yeah, yeah. Hopefully Juvia won't get tired of your sorry ass. Have fun."

The gym grew silent again, and I was once more alone. Sighing, I got up from the bench and grabbed a weight and started working out again.


	8. The Party

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lisanna's party has finally arrived

_Natsu's POV_

It's finally Friday!

Hello four day weekend. And the best way to start it off is with a party. Lisanna's party to be exact.

Right now it's 9:25 and I'm nearly there. As I walk down the sidewalk I can't help but think about what happened yesterday.

I mean, me and Lucy fought. We had a huge fight, and since then we haven't spoken, she wouldn't even look at me in class. I tried to catch her after school, but no luck.

I don't know.

The project's due when we get back and if we can't even talk to each other how are we going to finish it.

Maybe I'll swing by her house tomorrow to see if she's ok… wait no, I mean I’ll swing by her house to see if she wants to work on the project. I could careless about how she feels, the only thing that's important is the project.

I'm only a block away from Lisanna's place and I can already hear music blasting from her house.

By the time I can actually see her home there are a lot of people surrounding it; like there’s _a lot._

A huge crowd takes up the front lawn; all of them have a red cup in their hands. Some are already drunk and doing stupid stunts on the yard and others are just egging them on.

I see at least two guys running around in only their underwear and a cape made out of different people's clothes.

I sigh and climb up the porch stairs, the front door is wide open so I just walk in. I'm stopped pretty quickly by Sorano, who is wearing a dress that looks like it could be large enough to be a scarf, everything she has is just bursting at the seams just waiting to pop. She grabs my arms and leans in before saying, "Oh, hey, the Ideal Man's finally made it! Lisanna's been looking for you. She's pretty pissed that you didn't come right on time like you usually do. Did something happen? Why were you late?" By the smell of alcohol coming from her breath every time she spoke, it’s clear she'd already had a few drinks.

To be honest, I forgot about the party. After school, I was frustrated that I couldn't find Lucy so I went to _Ice Make_ and boxed with a couple of people who were there. By the time I remembered there was a party tonight, it was already 8:55, I still needed to get home, take a shower, and get ready for the party; as well as walk here because I don't have money to buy a car.

But I don't say any of this, instead I ask, "Where's Lisanna?"

Sorano just rolls her eyes and points to the back of the house, "She's in the pool."

And with that I move around her and head towards the back yard.

Argh, it's so hard though, to get pass these people. If I thought outside was crazy with people, inside is worse. It's like, there's the same amount of people, but they're all compact into this little space.

And it's so hot! The music is louder in here and most of the people are dancing on each other. Some people are on the couch making-out, others in the hallway and on the stairs. None of whom seem to realize they aren't alone and they're surrounded by people as they suck face.

Everyone has a red cup, and I can see on the kitchen counter different kinds of alcoholic beverages along with sodas to mix them with.

Finally, I reach the sliding door which leads to the back yard. And man, am I ever so grateful for the fresh air once again.

There are less people out here, which is a relief. From where I'm standing I can see six people in the pool, one of which must be Lisanna.

So, I start to make my way towards them. I wonder what Lucy is doing right now? Is she doing the project by herself… no she wouldn't do it without me. Maybe she's out with friends or even at a party like me- though I doubt it.

"…NATSU!" I quickly snap out of my daze and turn my attention to the people in the pool. Without realizing it, I had walked up to the pool and was just standing there, staring.

Lisanna looks at me annoyed since she had to call my name to bring me back to the present. She quickly recovers though, plastering on that sweet smile again.

"Hey Hun, what took you so long? We had to start the party without you," She says innocently.

In the pool with her were four guys, one of which was Sting. The only other girl was Yukino. Looking at them, I could tell they were all in their underwear; one because I've seen Lisanna in her underwear before and two because the underwear she's wearing right now is very revealing.

My eyebrows furrow and I began to frown, but I answer her, "I just lost track of time."

When I say this, Lisanna gets up out of the pool and I can see Sting's eyes following her, tracing her body. My frown just deepens.

Lisanna grabs her discarded dress that is lying by the pool and throws it over herself. But before her underwear could soak the dress with water, she quickly removes them, leaving them by the other people's clothes that are still lying near the pool.

She walks up to me then and smiles. I can tell she's already had a few drinks herself, probably even before the party started, but I take her hand never the less and guide her inside.

Once we’re there, she goes to the kitchen table and pours herself another drink. Grabbing another cup, she pours it half with vodka and the other half with sprite, then heads it me.

"Thanks," I say taking a sip. It was strong, but it's not like this is my first time drinking alcohol.

With a cup in her own hand, she grabs my free hand with her own and swiftly brings me to the dance floor. She begins to dance on me to the beat of the music. Rubbing against me in all the right spots… but I'm just not feeling it.

I put my hands on her hips, but nothing she does sparks a light in me.

After two songs I tell Lisanna that I want to sit down for a bit. But if she still wants to dance, she should go ahead and do it. And that's what she did, so now I'm sitting on a couch which is being half occupied by a couple groping each other.

I don't understand why they can't go somewhere else; like can they not see me here.

Whatever, I take another sip of the drink I had in my hand. I've been nursing this one drink since I got here. I don't know why, usually I'm chugging the stuff down. But I just… I don't want to get wasted tonight.

I look up to the dance floor and see Lisanna downing the drink in her own hand with one swift go. That's her fourth cup since I got here.

Discarding the now empty drink, she starts to dance again. She's swinging her hips and slowly moving up and down with her hands above her head. She runs her fingers through her hair and continues to sway to the music.

…I wonder how Lucy dances.

Does she dance like this… or is she more confined?

I wonder if she even likes to dance.

I quickly shake my head. I need to stop thinking about her.

She just keeps popping into my head and I need to stop, we're not even in the same social class. I'm popular and she's a loser. I have a _girlfriend_ , a _hot_ girlfriend, Lucy isn't even attractive. She's fat and a nerd. It just wouldn't work… but what Grey said just keeps popping into my head as well. When it was just me and her at her house, it was fun. I enjoyed myself, I forgot about my problems. But it's not realistic, it's just not. It wouldn't even work if we were just friends. And I need to stop this. Now.

And with that final thought I gulp down the rest of my drink. Once it was all down, I look up to the dance floor again and I see Lisanna.

That's right, she's my girlfriend and I should be dancing with her right now. Not thinking about some wannabe, loser.

Setting my cup to the side, I get up and head towards Lisanna. Once I get there, I can tell she's drunk, but I don't care. I need anything to get my mind off a certain blonde.

* * *

It's about 11 by the time I go to pour myself a third drink, but the party's still going strong.

However, I lost Lisanna about 20 minutes ago and I can't seem to find her anywhere. I've looked at the dance floor, outside, and right now I'm walking through the living room, but she's nowhere in sight. However, I can see Yukino on the lap of one of the guys from the pool, making out… though it looks more like the two are trying to suck each other’s faces off.

"Hey, Yukino! Have you seen Lisanna anywhere? I've been looking for her." She doesn't reply to me; rolling my eyes I pull on her shoulder, dragging her away from the human vacuum sitting next to her.

"Hey, did you hear me?" I ask getting irritated.

"Oh my God, you're so annoying," she says, but then with a side glance at the guy sitting next to her, her face changes and her lips crack into a sly, knowing grin as she says, "I bet she's upstairs," and then begins to giggle.

The guy next to her smiles and joins in by saying between chuckles, "Oh, yeah – _haha_ \- I think she said something about getting lucky – _haha cough_ \- charm, getting a lucky charm from up there and she needed help finding it."

What the hell is wrong these two? A lucky charm? Whatever.

I leave them once I get the information I need; leaving the living room, I head for the stairs. She's probably in her room. Why didn't I think about checking before… though she usually has a rule about people going upstairs during a party.

By the time I'm at the top of the stairs, it's quiet. There's no one up here and the only noise that can be heard is the music coming for downstairs.

 _Sigh_ It's so peaceful up here, it's nice to escape from the crowd for a little bit, even if I'm only up here to look for Lisanna, then I'm going back down there.

I make my way down the hall; I mean I've been inside her room plenty of times so I know where it is.

Why is Lisanna looking for a lucky charm? That doesn't make any sense, that guy must have been drunk. But Yukino seemed to get the joke too… maybe you had to be drunk to understand it.

The weird thing is I'm usually drunk by now. I don't know, I just didn't want to get drunk tonight.

As I get closer to the room at the end of the hallway, I can hear creaking on the bed that's behind the door.

What? That doesn't make sense, what's happening in there? I slowly open the door and say, "Lisanna-"

But I stop short by what I see. Lisanna is on the bed with Sting. Sting's shirt is off as he lays on the bed with his back on the sheets and Lisanna is sitting over him, kissing him.

When they hear me, Lisanna quickly gets off of Sting, and Sting sits up on the bed. Looking at Lisanna, I can see that her hair is tussled and that her dress is lope sided from their heated make out session. Sting's neck is starting to get little red spots on it, I can see at least three.

If I hadn't walked in when I did, I know what would have happened, and by the looks of it, it's wasn't their first time together; the way Sting looked so comfortable in her room and not nervous at all.

It's silent between us; Sting doesn't even look at me, but stares at Lisanna with a bored expression. And Lisanna was looking at me. My brows furrow and I have a deep frown plastered on my face.

I can't even register what is going on, them being together isn't processing.

Then Sting sighs and turns to me. "Listen, man, we all knew what was happening-"

I just walk away.

What just happened? Did I just see what I thought I saw? No… no? I'm rushing down stairs and shaking my head. By the time I'm at the bottom, my mind barely registers the loud, pounding music and all the people. Glancing at the mirror by the door, I see that I'm pale.

Still looking at the mirror, I see Lisanna followed by Sting behind her coming down the stairs after me. And my confused face turns hard. I turn around to look at them, Sting has his shirt on again and Lisanna's fixed her hair and dress.

Everyone in the house goes silent as they look at the power couple staring at each other. It's obvious there's tension between the three of us and someone turns off the music.

It's silent and no one says a thing.

I look at Lisanna, and she can't hold my stare, when she finally says, "Come on Natsu, did you honestly not see this coming? I mean, I'm always staying after school, and why would I hang out with Sting for the project if we're getting someone to do it for us, unless it's for that reason. Are you really that dense? Are you really that stupid not to put two and two together?"

That's when Sting starts to laugh, "Seriously dude, did you not know? Like this has been going on for at least a couple months; I'm sure everyone already knew." And he just continues to laugh, and then Lisanna starts to giggle.

And with that the people around us either start to agree with Sting or laugh themselves, "How did you not know?" "You really must be stupid." "The only thing he has going for him is his looks." "Dang, it took him long enough to figure it out." "Look at his face, he's so pale. He really didn't know."

I'm just looking around; these people were just laughing _with_ me having a good time at a party together… now they're laughing _at_ me.

I'm not stupid! I didn't know my girlfriend was sleeping with my friend and I’m the one getting laughed at! What the hell is happening?

As I look back at Lisanna and Sting, my stone, hard face begins to break and the hurt I feel begins to show on my face. I'm angry and confused and upset. Lisanna was sleeping with my friend and now I'm the one being called an idiot for not knowing. I feel betrayed, what am I supposed to do?

Breaking my gaze from Lisanna and Sting on the stairs, I turn to look at the crowd. Some people are pointing at me and I can see others with their phones out recording me and taking photos.

I suddenly feel very suffocated and hot; I need to get out of here. Now.

I look back at Lisanna one last time, as I look at her I can see the look in her eyes. They're cold. She doesn't even care; and I know that she can see the hurt in my own eyes and that's why she's laughing because she thinks it's pathetic; she thinks I'm pathetic.

I shake my head and turn around, heading straight for the door.

Once I'm outside, I can still hear their laughter ringing in my ears.

The people, who were partying outside were crowded around a window watching the scene themselves. When I stumble outside, they all stared out me. Some covering their moths to hide their smiles and giggles, others are just out right laughing.

I start to run; down the porch stairs, through the yard which is littered with trash and people who've passed out from having too much to drink, down the street. Away from that house.

By the time I slow down I'm already a few blocks away from Lisanna's house. I stop, with my hands on my knees, bending at the waist, I try to catch my breath.

What am I supposed to do now? Everyone I know or thought liked me was back at that party, laughing. I don't have anyone to go to.

There's no way I can go home right now. I can't go there; to a place where I feel just as much an outsider as I felt at that party.

I need to see Grey.

He'll make me feel better; I need to be with my best friend, _right now._

With that thought in my head, I start to walk again, towards his house.

What am I meant to tell Grey when I turn up at his door step? Would he even be up at… what time is it? I quickly check my phone and see that it's 11:44. Shit. It's already that late. I hope Grey's still up. I'm sure he is. He's probably talking to Juvia.

Wait… Shit! I stop dead in my tracks. Grey's not at his house. He's at a ski lodge. With his girlfriend. He'll be gone for the entire four day weekend. _Shit!_

What am I meant to do? My best friend is gone, I can't go to the foster house, everyone else I know was back at that party and there is no way I can go back there.

Lucy.

There's still Lucy.

No. She won't want to see me. The last time we talked, we fought. We're not friends, so why would she help me?

But I have nowhere else to go… She's the only person I can think of.

There's no way she'd let me stay, I bet her parents would freak out if some random guy just turned up at her house at midnight.

There's just no way I can go to her house.

What would I even say to her? She's probably asleep.

Nope, nope, I'll just have to think of something else.

…...ARGH! What should I do!

 _Huff_ Where am I now? Without realizing it, I was walking while thinking about Lucy. I start to look around for a street name, but I can't find one. But the houses around here look familiar so I'm probably not that far from the foster home.

I just keep walking down the sidewalk.

…...Wait a minute.

I know why this place looks familiar. Lucy lives down this road; I'm nearly to her house. Argh, I must have subconsciously walked to her house when I was debating whether or not I should go there.

 _Sigh_ Her house is over there; it's so close… it looks perfect and huge, just like the last time I was here.

Why _am_ I here again? I'll probably feel just as lonely as I would if I just go back to the foster home. I don't belong in some fancy, expensive house. So why did I come here?

Maybe it's because the last time I was here, I didn't feel that way. I didn't feel lonely, or out of place...

Whatever; I'm thinking too hard into this. I'm just going to walk past it and stay out for the rest of the night; I'm sure something I can do will come to mind.

As I walk past, I see a light on in the living room.

So, she's still up... Maybe I should just ask her. What's the worst that can happen, she says no? I mean I already was embarrassed and found out that my girlfriend was sleeping with my friend... ex-girlfriend and ex-friend. I don't think a simple no will shake me.

I take in a deep breath and push open the gate that leads into her garden.

By the time I'm on the porch, I'm just standing there. The last time we saw each other we didn't leave on good terms. Taking another deep breath, I knock.

Maybe this wasn't a good idea.

But before I could turn around and leave, the door swings open, and there stands Lucy. She's in her pajamas; loose black pants and a large, white V-neck. She looked comfortable with her hair in a messy bun.

When she opens the door, she looks surprised to see me standing there.

"Natsu," she says in a cool, neutral voice.

"Um… hey…" I reply. Dang it, I should have thought of what I was going to say to her when she answered the door.

There was an awkward silence between us, which neither of us was willing to break.

Finally, she broke the silence by saying, "What do you want?"

"Um, well. I was wondering if I could come in."

"Why?"

"Does it matter, I'm here and I would like to come in." I say getting a little frustrated.

"No," she swiftly says, "Besides isn't Lisanna having a party tonight? Why aren't you there?"

At the mention of Lisanna, all the emotions I was trying to push away comes rushing back. The hurt, the betrayal, the confusion and angry. All of it; and I don't want to remember it.

"You know what, this was a bad idea. I'll just leave." I turn around and start walking away when Lucy suddenly stops me.

"You can come in." That's all she says, barely above a whisper, but I hear it.

I slowly turn around, confusion and shock displayed on my face.

Did she really just say I can come in. "Um, thanks," I say as I walk back to the door and enter her house. She closes the door behind me.

It's warm in here; not like the way it was at Lisanna's place, but warm in a cozy way. Lucy heads into the living room and I subconsciously follow after her.

"Would you like me to get you anything?" She asks me.

"Oh, uh, no. I'm good."

She just looks at me with a frown on her face and then leaves the room.

With her gone, I sit down on her couch and look around the room. It looks like she's in the middle of watching a movie.

When she comes back she has a glass of water in her hand. Confused I ask her, "What's that for. I said I didn't need anything?"

"I can smell alcohol on you. You'll want to drink a lot of water if you don't want a hangover tomorrow." And with that she hands me the cup.

I just looked at her and then down to the cup. Why would she give me this? We weren't even talking earlier today, but now she's just forgetting about it and helping me out.

After a second, I take a sip of the water; it's cool against my throat. It's a nice comparison to the room temperature drinks I was drinking back at Lisanna's place.

It's silent again and I can see Lucy is still looking at me, but I don't look up, choosing to stare at the cup instead.

"Um, ok. Listen, Natsu, you don't have to tell me what's going on but how long do you plan on staying here?"

"I don't know… For now, can… can I stay the night?" I ask, hesitantly.

She looks at me for a second thinking it over in her head, but eventually she answers, "Ok."

And with that she grabs the remote that was sitting on the coffee table and clicks play to begin the movie. "We're watching the Avengers."

And with that she grows silent again with her eyes on the screen. I look at her, I just can't figure out why she's being so nice to me. Shaking my head, I turn my attention to the screen as well; laying back on the sofa, kicking my shoes off and getting comfortable, I watch as Captain America and Iron Man fight aliens. Thankful for the distraction from the events that just happened not even 30 minutes ago.

* * *

_Lucy's POV_

_Sigh_ Finally, Friday night. It's been a long week, but... it's a four day weekend!

I sit on my living room couch and grab the TV remote. What should I watch? I start to flip through the movies that show up on the screen.

Aliens in the Attic, Another Cinderella Story, Avengers, A- Wait, Avengers! I love the Avengers. Mainly Captain America, but the rest of them are pretty good too.

Smiling I click on Avengers and the movie begins.

As the movie starts, I lay back in the couch getting comfortable. I'm in my pajamas and it's Friday night; it's nice and relaxing.

…Well, there's still the Natsu problem. Today he was trying to talk to me again, but I'm just not ready to face him right now. With the fight and everything that happened afterwards, I just don't want to see him.

He even tried to wait for me after school; luckily, I saw him before he saw me so I was able to avoid him. There is nothing he can say that can change what happened; sure, he can apologize, but what happened, happened and it won't change anything.

Why am I thinking about Natsu right now anyway?

Avengers is on, and that's something I love. I'm going to forget about Natsu and the project, school and Lisanna; it's Friday and I need to derail from this crazy week by watching one of my favorite movies.

 _Sigh_ picking up the remote again I turn up the volume.

* * *

_Knock Knock Knock_

Argh, there's someone at the door. They just had to come when I was watching a movie; not only that but it's late. I don't know exactly how late, but I know most people wouldn't be out at this hour.

Sighing I pause the movie and get up off the sofa and head to the door. Once there, I open the door.

Before I can say anything to the person standing on my porch, I'm stopped short when I see Natsu standing there.

I'm shocked. I was not expecting to see Natsu, of all people, to be standing at my door so late at night.

Why _is_ he here? There's no way he'd be here just to talk.

I look at him waiting for him to talk, but he doesn't show any signs of speaking any time soon. In fact, he looks kind of pale; he has a frown plastered on his face. Now that I look at it, he doesn't look to good. He's wearing a plain button-up red t-shirt and jeans. I _would_ say he looks nice, if it weren't for the fact that he looks like he might throw up.

"Natsu," I say.

Shaking his head, Natsu looks down at his feet as he scratches the back of his head subconsciously, and says, "Um… hey…"

What is he doing here?

I wait for his explanation, but it never comes. As I continue to look at him, a long awkward silence comes over us.

Well… um, he's obviously not going to say anything unless I ask, "What do you want?"

"Um, well, I was wondering if I could come in." He finally looks me in the eyes at the end of the sentence.

What? "Why?" I ask him.

That's when he snaps, he looks angry and frustrated when he says, "Does it matter, I'm here and I would like to come in."

Well that was rude. "No." It's my house, and I don't want you here on my day off. We aren't even working on the project; didn't he say something on Wednesday that he had plans on Friday anyway.

"Besides isn't Lisanna having a party tonight? Why aren't you there?"

When I mention the party Natsu flinches and a lot of different things flash on his face. He looks broken and it surprises me; I wasn't expecting to see _those_ emotions on _his_ face. Hurt, anger, confusion all of it comes over his face. He seems lost. What's wrong, what happened?

Before I could ask him about it, he quickly turns around and says, "You know what, this was a bad idea. I'll just leave." And with that he starts to head away from the door.

"You can come in," I suddenly say quietly.

…. What? ….

What did I just say? Why am I letting him into my house? Why did I say that?!

It's probably because he looks so broken. But mostly he looks hurt and… I can't just leave him like that.

Yeah, we fought, sure, but there's just something in the way his eyes shadow over at the mention of the party that told me I can't just turn him away.

Besides, if he's coming to me it really must be bad.

Natsu slowly turns around to face me and he looks shocked and puzzled as to what I just said.

"Um, thanks," is all he says as he walks back towards me and through my door. When he passes by I can smell alcohol on him.

Oh God, I hate the smell of alcohol. It brings back memories of my past that I so desperately don't want to remember.

I take a deep breath, trying to clear my head. As I look at Natsu, I don't know what to say, so instead I just head to the living room and back to the forgotten movie which is just waiting to be watched.

Natsu follows me and when we get to the living room I ask him, "Would you like me to get you anything?"

"Oh, uh, no. I'm good."

Sure he is. He's obviously had alcohol and if he doesn't stay hydrated then he'll have a hangover tomorrow. Trust me, I would know. I've had plenty of experience with stuff like this.

Frowning at him, I leave and head to the kitchen. Grabbing a cup from the cupboard I fill it up with water and head back to the living room.

When I get back, Natsu is sitting on the couch. Looking at me, he asks, "What's that for. I said I didn't need anything."

Sighing I explain to him, "I can smell alcohol on you. You'll want to drink a lot of water if you don't want a hangover tomorrow." Once I was done talking I stick my hand out for him to take the cup from me.

He takes it but just looks at it for a second. Making my way back to the sofa I was sitting on before Natsu knocked on my door, I look at Natsu who takes a sip from the water I gave him.

What's wrong, why does he look like that? Like his world shattered. He needs to be with someone right now… but is that someone me? We're not close. We aren't even friends. There has to be someone who he can be with to make him feel better.

I'm angry at him right now, but I don't like seeing him like this.

Not only that, but it's late, extremely late, nearly midnight, doesn't he need to get home? Won't his parents worry about him? How long does he plan on being here?

After a second I ask him just that. "Um, ok. Listen, Natsu, you don't have to tell me what's going on but how long do you plan on staying here?"

Looking up at me Natsu says, "I don't know… for now, can," he hesitates before continuing, "can I stay the night?"

I just stare at him. Did he really just ask that? Whatever is happening with him must be serious. He seems like he really needs to be with someone right now. I've never seen him like this before.

So I just say, "Ok."

Turning away from him I grab the remote and sit back into the couch. Pressing play, I tell Natsu, "We're watching the Avengers."

After about 15 minutes, I pause the movie.

I hear Natsu say, "Wha?" and turn to me.

"I'm hungry. Are you?"

Natsu rolls his eyes and says, "Of courses _you're_ hungry, Fatty," at that comment I roll my eyes back at him. He's such an idiot.

"Are you hungry?" I ask him again.

This time all he says is, "Yeah, actually. Now that you mention it, I could eat something."

"Okay, well I'm going to go grab us some blankets and pillows-"

"Why?" He interrupts me.

Rolling my eyes again, I say, "Well, we'll most likely be sleeping down here tonight, probably watching movies the whole time, so we might as well get comfortable. So, as I was saying, I'll grab the blankets and a pair of my dad's pajamas for you to sleep in. While you go to the kitchen and grab snacks for us. It's all in the pantry and you can grab whatever you want." With that I get up and head for the stairs that lead up to the second floor.

But before I leave the room, I turn to Natsu and point to the doorway behind the couch I was sitting on. "The kitchens right through there." Once I let him know where the kitchen was, I disappear upstairs.

When I come back down, I have two blankets, two pillows, and pajamas for Natsu. Dumping them in the living room I can see Natsu brought a lot of food into the living room and has set them on the coffee table.

He brought out chips and cookies, popcorn, and gummy worms. There's so much junk food lying on the table it just reminds me of those crazy sleepovers I read about in my books.

Smiling, I call to Natsu, "Hey, here's your pajamas, get changed into them. I'll set up the make-shift beds."

He grabs the pajamas I hand to him and takes off his t-shirt. Blushing I scream, “What do you think you’re doing?!” He looks up at me and smirks. Gesturing to his tanned, toned torso, he says, “What? You like what you see?” I just look away blushing harder as I yell at him to go change in the bathroom. He leaves the room chuckling and I start to set up the two couches so they're converted into beds, hoping that when Natsu gets back my blush will have gone away. I make one for him and one for me.

When it’s all finished, I look at the snacks again. This time though, I see two glasses of water on the table. Did he get me a glass? I mean, I figured he'd get himself another glass of water, but he also got me one. I wasn't expecting that. A small smile spreads across my face at the thought.

"By the way, where are your parents?" Natsu asks.

I jump at least 2 feet, he scared me so much. I was not expecting him to just turn up behind me.

Looking at him I start to take in deep breaths, trying to calm my racing heart. "What the hell Natsu! You scared the living daylights out of me! Didn't your mom ever tell you not to sneak up on people like that?!"

When I say this Natsu's face goes blank, but I continue, barely noticing it. "My, uh, parents are gone for the weekend for a business trip and won't be back until next Friday."

"Oh," is his only reply.

There's tension in the air, and I'm not quite sure what I should say next. But as I look at Natsu, I remember he's wearing my dad's pajamas, and well, it looks pretty good on him.

I cough. "So, um, do the pajamas fit?" I ask him, trying to relieve some of the tension.

"Huh, oh, yeah. They're nice, thanks."

"No Prob." Smiling I head over to my make-shift bed and lay down in it. Grabbing a bag of chips, I press play on the movie again as it starts from where we left off.

Out of the corner of my eye, I see Natsu doing the same thing as me; though he grabs cookies.

Smiling, I turn back to the movie and watch as the Hulk smashes some aliens.


	9. The first day together

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Natsu slept over at Lucy's house, what happens now?

_Natsu's POV_

I'm so comfortable right now.

I can't remember the last time I woke up in my bed feeling well rested and relaxed.

I take a deep breath, but what I smell isn't my sheets, it smells kinda sweet, but earthy. Almost like flowers after a rain shower. It must have rained last night; but did I leave my window open?

Aw whatever, it smells nice. I take another breath of air as I slowly open my eyes to a living room.

Wait… this isn't my ro- Oh yeah! I'm at Lucy's house!

I stay laid on the couch as I turn over to lie on my back. As I stare up at the ceiling, I can't help but replay the events that happened last night.

Everything went so fast. How can one night happen so quickly, before I even knew it I was here with Lucy, I didn't even have the time or the energy to process the fact that my girlfriend- or rather my ex-girlfriend- was sleeping with my friend… well ex-friend.

But right now, I don't want to think about that. It's too early in the morning to think about depressing things.

With that in mind, I look back at the living room. The TV's off, which must have been Lucy's doing because I fell asleep during Avengers 2. There's sun pouring in through the windows, lighting the room, making it warm. There are still snacks on the table, though most of the stuff is open.

A small, fond smile spreads on my face involuntarily. I actually had a good time watching movies with Lucy. I quietly chuckle, it was fun messing around with each other, like when I asked her to spray whipped cream into my mouth straight from the can and she just went way over board. I had the stuff all over my face. But I got my revenge, because later that night I put gummy worms in her food. She flipped out for a minute before realizing they were just candies, and I laughed my head off the whole time. It really was a great time. I haven't had such a fun sleepover like that in a long time. The only other sleepovers I've had in the past couple months was with Lisanna and trust me, what we did contained a lot more skin; though I don't really want to think about that.

Sleepovers with Grey are usually just video games and food. We talk sure, but we don't really mess around like me and Lucy did last night, and it was nice.

I look over to the other couch that lays next to mine expecting to see Lucy, but the sofa's empty with only a blanket and pillow on it.

Where is she?

Mentally shrugging I turn over on the couch. Maybe she went to the bathroom.

With my eyes closed, I start to get comfortable in the pillow again and take a deep breath, only to be met with a strong smell of the flowers I smelt earlier.

Smiling, I put my arm out to gather the blankets next to me. But what I grab isn't blankets; it is, however, warm and soft.

Snapping my eyes open, I see Lucy in front of me, sleeping.

Startled, I move back instinctively and fall on the floor.

What the hell is Lucy doing in my bed?! Shaking my head, I mean couch!

But as I take a closer look, I can see Lucy is on the couch she fell asleep in. It was me who moved into her make-shift bed.

Why would I do that?!

Wait… it must have been when I got up in the middle of the night for a glass of water. I bet that was when I moved to her couch instead of my own.

Was she the source of the good smell? And the warmth? And the reason I had such a good sleep?

I just look at Lucy.

She looks so peaceful; I've never seen her look like that at school. She looks happy and relaxed. Her blonde hair is sprawled over her pillow and I can see her taking in small breathes as she sleeps calmly.

You know she actually looks kind of pretty-

Suddenly Lucy stirs. Which makes me jump again, causing me to hit my head on the table behind me with a big BAM. I hiss in air through my teeth as I rub the back of my head. Shit, what was I just thinking.

Lucy pops up after hearing the bang on the coffee table.

A blush spreads across my face. Well, this is embarrassing. First, I'm sleeping with the school nerd –even if it's not in _that_ way, it's still weird- and then I get flustered when she wakes up.

And NO, I was _not_ staring at her, thinking she looks kind of pretty. There's no way I was thinking that. Not even possible, there's just no way… That's _not_ what happened, NATSU, pull yourself together!

As I look back up to Lucy, I can see she's sitting upright on her couch still a little groggy from sleep, but awake enough to be giggling at me for hitting my head.

Standing up, she makes her way to me. With a smile on her face, she says, "Here, let me see that."

Bending down in front of me, so there's only a few inches between our faces, she takes my face in her hands. They're warms and soft, but I barely have time to register that, before she turns my face to the side so she could get a better look at the small bump that's forming at the back of my head.

She runs her fingers through my hair to feel the bump, and man does it feel good. But then I think about when Lisanna used to do that and instinctively I grab her wrist, pulling her hands away from my head.

Looking at her, I can see her blushing, as she says, "Sorry, I was only trying to see how bad the bump was." She continues looking anywhere but at me, "It, um, doesn't feel too bad; it'll probably just be sore to the touch."

Getting up, she extends a hand down to me. "Come on, let's eat some breakfast."

Yes! Breakfast! Now that she mentions it, I'm starving! I take her hand and haul myself up.

Letting go, she leads us to the kitchen. Once we're there, I take a good look at her for the first time since she woke up, and man is it funny. I start to laugh and she turns around with a confused look on her face, but I can't stop laughing so I just point at her hair.

She goes to look at it in the mirror in the hallway; I follow after her, watching as her confusion turns to annoyance.

Her hair’s sticking up in all different places, she looks kind of like medusa; it's so funny!

Sighing, she collects her hair into a group on top of her head, finding a hair-up, she ties the bundle into a pony tail.

I'm still giggling by the time we make it back to the kitchen.

"I don't know what you're laughing at. It's not like _your_ hair looks any different," she says.

"Yeah, but at least my hair looks good all spiked up and crazy."

She laughs at that and says, "Keep telling yourself that. Now what do you want for breakfast? We have pancakes, cereal, eggs, bacon, anything really. Just name it and I'll make it."

I think about it; it all sound good to me, but… "Who can turn down bacon and pancakes?"

Smiling she says, "I can do that." And with that said, she starts to get out the ingredients need for the food. I just lean on the kitchen's island table and watch as she starts to mix the pancake batter.

She seems like she knows what she's doing, like she does this a lot.

Suddenly she turns to me, and levels a stare at me.

"What?" I ask.

"Well, while I make us breakfast, go clean the living room. It's a mess."

 _Sigh_ "Fine, fine, I'll go," I tell her as I make my way towards the living room.

"Just leave the blankets and pillows in a stack by one of the sofas, I'll take them up later," she calls after me.

By the time I’m done cleaning, the pancakes are already done and Lucy's just waiting for the bacon to finish cooking so they have that extra crisp.

Smiling at me, she says, "Oh and one more thing. Could you set the table? Once that's done we can eat."

Rolling my eyes, I say, "This breakfast better be good if I'm letting _you,_ of all people, boss _me_ around." She just rolls her eyes.

As I roam around the kitchen trying to find the dishes, I can hear Lucy humming to herself.

Is she really humming to herself?! I start to chuckle and say, "Oh my God Lucy, are you seriously humming right now?!"

"Hey! I don't tell you how to do your job! Besides it helps pass the time."

"Um, actually, could you tell me how to do my job? I have no idea where anything is."

She just looks at me and then laughs.

"Wha? What are you laughing at?" I ask her.

She just shakes her head and says, "Sorry, I should probably have told you where everything was before telling you to set the table. Here," she gives me the tongs she was using a moment ago, "You finish the bacon and I'll set the table. When the bacon's done, the pancakes are in the oven keeping warm."

With that she leaves to set the table and I'm left with cooking the remaining food for us.

Um… I've never made bacon before. What exactly am I meant to do? Staring down at the strips of meat sizzling on the hot surface, my mouth starts to water.

They look so good. I hope Lucy is nearly done setting the table.

Ok, when I was watching Lucy early all she was doing was flipping the strips of bacon. I can do that.

Using the tongs, I take a slab of meat and turn it over. That was easy.

 _Pop_ "Owww!" I scream when grease hits me.

Lucy who came back into the kitchen, just looks at me smiling, and says, "Aww, poor baby. Did you get a boo-boo?"

"HA. HA. That's really funny." I reply sarcastically.

Giggling she replies, "I know." And I just roll my eyes.

"Table's set; you can take the bacon off the heat now and put them on this plate. Oh, and what do you like on your pancakes?"

"Syrup, of course."

"Of course."

With that we head into the dining room and man does this breakfast look good!

The pancakes are a perfectly brown and the bacon is just the right kind of crispy. There's syrup and oranges juice already on the table for us.

We dig into the breakfast feast in front of us. And if I thought it looked good, it tastes ten times better.

"Mmmm," I say.

"Couldn't have said it better myself," Lucy says between bites.

"I can't remember the last time I’ve had bacon and pancakes. At my house, it's usually just cereal or toast for breakfast every day." I tell her.

"Really? Well then I'm glad you like it."

It's silent for a while as we eat the huge meal. By the time I'm done I take a large swig of orange juice, to wash it all down.

I look to Lucy, who finished before me, and I can see that she's thinking hard about something and that's when the mood changes.

"What is it," I ask.

She looks up at me and says, "Um, Natsu. I know you don't want to talk about it, but uh, what happened last night?"

Setting my jaw and plastering on a stone hard expression, I reply, "You're right. I don't want to talk about it and I don't have to tell you about it." With that, I get up with my dish in hand and head to the kitchen. I can hear her sigh behind me, but I don't stop.

When I enter the kitchen, I set my things into the sink and sigh myself. Gripping the counters edge, my mind wonders back to what happened. Everything's such a mess.

I take a deep breath and stand up straight. Turning around, I see Lucy standing behind the kitchen's island table with a worried and sad expression on.

"Don't look like that. You don't need to feel sorry for me. If anything, I should feel sorry for you. You're a social outcast, a loser, the lowest of the low… And I'm not. I'm cool, the highest of the high."

.…Well I used to be.

And with that thought in mind, I head to the living room.

Following me, I can hear the eye roll Lucy does as she says, "Whatever you say Natsu."

Once we're in the Living room she sits on the couch she slept on and I sit on the one I was _meant_ to sleep in.

It's silent between us and I'm mentally kicking myself. I didn't mean to say that, I was just anger that she brought up the party again. Before I can say anything though, she breaks the silence again.

"Why did you come here?" She asks plainly. There's no sting in her voice, no anger, just plain curiosity. "You know a lot of people, and I'm sure all those people would jump at the idea of spending time with the school's 'Hot Shot' so why did you pick the one person who doesn't get along with you?"

I think about what she asks for a second and then replied truthfully, "I don't know. Honestly, I was going to go to my best friend's house, but he's gone for the four day weekend with his girlfriend. And well, then I thought of you. I couldn't go home and you… last time you helped me when I needed it. And," I sigh, "I don't know, I found myself here; I thought what's the worst that can happen, you turn me away? I _couldn't_ go home. With everything that happened, I just couldn't go back to that place. And honestly I don't think I could go home even now."

When I say this, there's a look on her face, like she understands that feeling of not wanting to be home. But that doesn't make sense, look at this place. It's amazing.

I look to the floor. Now that I think about it, I really don't want to go back to my foster house. Going back there, it's like a reminder that no one wants me; I'm not loved. And with everything that’s happened with Lisanna, well she was meant to be someone who did care about me and she just went and proved that she could careless.

"Yeah, I get that," Lucy says, but then continues hesitantly, "But, what I don't get is why you came to my house? Why didn't you stay at Lisanna's house?"

I just stay silent.

I can tell by the look on her face that she's thinking about something important before she says, "Well, if you want, you can stay here for the weekend."

I look up at her in surprise. Is she serious? "All four days?"

"I mean, only if you can't go home. You can stay here…" I stay silent, just looking at her. When she finally breaks eye contact and looks at the ground, she finishes her sentence by saying, "… if you want."

I find myself nodding and a small smile spreads across my face, "Thanks, Lucy. I would like that."

"Well, you'll have to let your parents know where you are and that you'll be staying here for the weekend."

Parents? More like foster parents. But I don't say that out loud, instead I say, "Um, ok… I'll, huh, call them now."

"Sounds good, oh and you can just borrow some of my dad's old clothes so you don't have to worry about that."

Taking my phone out, I go to my contacts and find my foster parents number. I put the phone to my ear as it rings. Lucy’s looking at me, but she remains silent as the phone is picked up on the other end.

_"Hello?"_

"Hey, it's Natsu," I say.

 _"Why are you calling?"_ my foster mom says on the other line.

"Well, I was calling to let you know that the reason I wasn't home last night was because I stayed at a friend's house."

_"You weren't home last night? Huh. Who did you stay with; you know I have to know the person you are with. Just in case the police ask where you are, again."_

Shit, I forgot about that rule.

"What's your mom saying," Lucy whispers to me.

" _Who was that? Is that your friend? It sounded like a girl?"_

Ignoring Lucy, I say into the phone, "That was, uh Grey's friend. I'm staying at Grey's house. And I was wondering if I could stay here for the rest of the weekend?"

Lucy just fixes me with a confused look that says, 'What the hell are you saying?'

" _Okay. Just don't do anything illegal."_ And with that, she hangs up.

Taking the phone away from my face, I also hang up and slowly look up to a mad Lucy.

"What the hell Natsu!?"

"Okay, before you get too anger, let me explain. My urh, parents have this thing about needing to know the person I'm staying with. And well they don't know you, but they know my friend Grey, so, I just…" I trail off, not finishing the sentence.

"Then why aren't you staying at your friend, Grey's house?!"

"I already told you, he's gone for the weekend! And if I would have known you'd react like this, I wouldn't have told them I was staying here!" I say starting to get anger. What's her problem, it's not like she lied.

"You didn't tell them you were staying here!"

"God whatever! This is why no one at school likes you!"

"Oh, and this is the reason you're such an awesome guy, cause you lie to your parents!"

"No, it's because I know how to have fun, but you obviously don't by the way you act when someone lies!"

"You don't lie to your parents!" She says raising her voice.

"OH! A teenager lying to his parents! Someone call the cops!" I say matching her volume.

We just stare at each other, heaving breaths, trying to calm down.

"God, why am I even here? A typical Cool Guy wouldn't be caught dead at some Loser's house. So why am I here? You're fat, ugly, friendless, giant loser-"

"Well it's better than being your everyday, found-everywhere Jock. You're a _prep_ and only other preps like preps. You're annoying and I would rather be a nerd over a prep any day of the week!"

"Well, then it's a good thing, you're not a prep! You're just a sad loser!"

And with that I turn around and head for the front door.

"Where are you going?!" I can hear Lucy call behind me.

"Out! I need some time away from you otherwise I might catch your disease and become a loser myself," and with that, I swung open the door and head out onto the porch.

"You won't have to worry because it looks like you're already infected with being an ass!" I hear her call to me as I push open the gate that separates her house and the street.

* * *

It's 8 by the time I walk through the front door of Lucy's house.

I was out most of the day just walking around. I stopped by _Ice Make_ for a little while, too. I always leave an extra pair of clothes there just in case I decide to stop there randomly. Which is exactly what I did when I realized I was walking around the neighborhood in my pajamas; so, I went to grab them and even worked out for a while.

Sighing I close the door behind me and head to the living room. Lucy's nowhere to be seen, all that's in the room is a glass of water on the coffee table, a book, and a laptop. All of which I assume to be Lucy's.

Making my way over to the other couch, I reach down to take off my shoes.

_Ding_

I look up when I hear the small sound; it came from her computer that's lying open on the opposite couch.

Is she talking to someone?

Shaking my head; it doesn't matter if she is talking to someone. It has nothing to do with me.

During my walk, I reevaluated my relationship with Lucy. I need to remember there's a distinct social line between me and her, I can't cross that line into her territory. It's as simple as that.

Yes, I'm grateful that she's allowing me to stay here, but that's as far as this… _thing_ that's happening between us can go. I mean who wants to be associated with a nerd?

_Ding_

Another message, huh? Well who knew Lucy was so popular on social media?

_Ding_

Another one? So quickly? Where is sh-

_Ding_

Ok, that's getting really annoying now.

_Ding_

Gritting my teeth, I get up and head towards her laptop. Still standing, I turn the computer to face me so I can turn off the sound, but what I see stops me short.

There, on the screen, staring back at me is a picture of myself. At the party the moment I learned about Lisanna and Sting.

I grab the laptop and move to sit down on the couch in one swift movement, with my eyes still on the screen.

What is this?

You've _got_ to be kidding me?!

Not only was my public humiliation and hurt seen by most of the school, now it's online for everyone to see.

As I look at myself in the photo, I can see just how bad I looked.

I was pale, and looked dumb with that stupid confused, hurt face plastered on. My mouth was hanging open a little and I was staring wide eyed at Lisanna who was on the stairs looking beautiful.

Oh man, I look like a freaking deer caught in headlights.

Behind me was a group of people laughing, some were even pointing at me.

Scrolling down, I can see 15 people have liked the photo and there's at least 20 comments.

Grimacing a little, I go down further to look at the comments. Things like _'Wow what a loser,'_ and _'Well what did you expect?'_ were littered throughout the comments.

_'He really is pathetic.'_

_'HAHAHA LOOK AT HIS FACE!'_

_'From hero to zero.'_

There was even a video of when I ran out after everything that happened.

Looks like everyone knows now, huh… even Lucy.

I bet after our fight she saw it and laughed, that's probably why she's on this, to comment and make fun of me too, just like everyone else on this site. Not that I should complain about her making fun of me, I've done it to her throughout the years; I guess it's just her turn to be the one laughing.

_Ding_

With the sudden noise, the screen zooms down to the latest comment, but what I read confuses me.

_'God, you're just as pathetic as him'_

What the-? That doesn't make sense.

Scrolling up on the page a little, I see Lucy's name and stop.

 _'This isn't funny; I don't know why you guys are laughing at this. What if it was you who found out what he did? I know if it were me, I probably wouldn't have handled it so well. Besides, posting this doesn't show him being pathetic, but you guys. Pathetic and petty.'_ I read her post.

I read it again. Did she really write this? Why? We were fighting and she didn't have to, but she did anyway. Why would she tell them off for my benefit?

With the new-found knowledge, I start to read the comments underneath hers.

The first one I see is from Lisanna, _'Oh shut up, quite acting all high and might, this doesn't apply to you.'_

Then it was Sorano _'Haha, you know the one who's really pathetic is you Fatty.'_

 _'You're just upset that you couldn't come to the party. Sorry, but pathetic losers weren't invited.'_ This time it was Yukino who commented.

 _'Besides not even a dog would find you attractive, so that comment about you handling it differently wouldn't even apply because no one would want to be with your fat self, and if they did, would you really blame them for looking elsewhere,'_ Lisanna put.

Yukino agreed, _'HAHA yeah, they'd probably only date you because they felt sorry for you.'_

 _'Get off your high horse, Loser! Nobody cares about what you have to say.'_ Sorano added.

This time Lucy commented, _'Look at you lot, trying so desperately to defend yourselves and pin the attention on Natsu. Let's not forget, you, Lisanna, were the one who slept around with two guys at the same time. If you ask me, that's vile.'_

 _'Who are you to talk to me like that?! Oh, it's easy for you to say, I doubt you've ever been with a guy- wait no, you've probably never even been kissed before, let alone slept with someone,'_ Lisanna fought back.

 _'HAHA, Lisanna is dead on, no one would want that piece of trash. Poor, fat, and ugly. Your parents must be so disappointed to have produced such an ugly creature.'_ Sorano commented.

 _'Just go back to where you belong, you fat cow. No one wants to hear about the sorry crush you have on my boyfriend, remember Thursday? I thought you learned your lesson then,'_ Lisanna put.

Thursday? What happened Thursday? Wait… that was when me and Lucy had that huge argument in the hallway.  
I wonder what Lisanna's taking about.

I scroll down some more, only to find the last couple comments.

Sorano said, _'Yeah just go away.'_

 _'God, you're just as pathetic as him,'_ added Yukino.

And that was the last comment. Slowly I put the laptop on the table and make my way back to the couch I was sitting on originally.

Lucy knows about the party.

Why would she defend me? It doesn't make sense, why would she start a fight with Lisanna, the Queen of the school, on my behalf, we don't even like each other… at least that's what she told me earlier when she asked why I came to her house.

"You're home."

I jump at least ten feet at the sound of Lucy's voice coming from behind me.

Holding my hand to my heart, I swing around to look at her and yell, "Dammit Lucy, give a guy a warning before you sneak up behind them!"

It's silent between us, until my heart rate goes back to normal. "Yeah, I'm back." I say in a quieter tone.

"Well, welcome back… I guess." Is all she says, and we look at each other and there's a long, awkward silence.

Finally, Lucy says, "Um, I was just about to make dinner for myself, if you want I could, uh, make you some, too."

As I look at her, realization dawns on me. She's trying to make amends from what happened this morning. She shuffles awkwardly from one foot to the other under my gaze.

Smiling I say, "I would like that. Thanks." Letting her know that, I'm also putting the incident behind us.

I get up off the couch and ask her, "Um, do you need any help with making the food?"

"No, I think I'll be able to manage." She replies smiling at me.

I sit back down when there's a sudden _Ding_ that comes from her laptop again.

We both turn to look at it and I can see out of the corner of my eye, Lucy looking confused. I can barely hear her say under her breath, "Didn't I leave my laptop on the couch?"

She walks up and closes the laptop, turning to me.

I forage ignorance and throw her a quizzical expression. She just waves me off and says, "Oh, it's nothing. I was just surfing the internet and probably got a spam email."

I know that's not true, but I let it slide. Lucy turns around and heads towards the kitchen to start dinner. But before she leaves I call out to her in a quiet voice, "Thanks."

And even though I can't see her face, I know that she's smiling.

* * *

After eating, me and Lucy chill in her living room. I'm watching a movie as she reads her book and it's peaceful. Just a normal, quite Saturday night…

Except, at my house this isn’t normal. It's always crazy there; it's loud and there's never any privacy because everyone is crammed in the house during the weekends. If I'm not there, I'd be at the gym where I'd be working out, not relaxing on a couch. And the only other place you would usually find me on a Saturday evening would be at Lisanna's house; and trust me, that would be far from relaxing. She would be constantly nagging me about something I did or just complaining about something Yukino or Sorano said.

But being here is nice and relaxing, I don't have to worry about any of that stuff. And just to prove it I burped loudly.

"URGH Natsu! Really!" Lucy yells, while I chuckle.

After a second, I ask Lucy, "Hey Lucy, where's the bathroom, again?"

Looking up from her book she points to the front door's entrance that leads to the living room. "When you enter the house, instead of turning left to come into the living room just go straight down the hallway and it's the room at the end of the hall. Don't go up the stairs." She warns me before she looks back down at her book.

Getting up, I head to the front door like she said and start to head down the main hallway towards the bathroom. As I go by, I can't help but look at the pictures hanging on the wall.

There are a lot of them, some of Lucy as a little girl, others of her parents. But when I stop to examine one photo that has all three, I can't help but smile. Lucy is just a toddler here, smiling so wide that her eyes are shut. To the right of her is her dad. He, too, is smiling a small content grin; he has a neat mustache and combed back blonde hair that's a shade darker than Lucy's. He's wearing a suit but doesn't seem to mind crouching down to his daughter's level in it.

To the left of Lucy, stands a woman that must be her mother because she looks exactly like Lucy as she is now. Same blonde hair, same smile, and bright brown eyes; a beautiful face. Though, unlike Lucy, the woman in the photo has a great body. Not quite skinny, but defiantly not fat. Her hair's in a neat bun at the top of her head and her bangs hang loose over her face. She is also smiling a happy grin.

So, this is what Lucy would look like if she wasn't so big. I look at the picture of her mother and try to imagine it. It's too bad Lucy doesn't look like this; her mother is stunning.

Smiling, I take one last look at the picture before continuing to the bathroom. Lucy really is lucky to have such a nice family.

As I get closer to the bathroom door, I can't help but wonder where her parents are? I mean I've been here since yesterday and there's been no sign of them. And before that, when I came here on Wednesday, I didn't see them then either. Where are Lucy's parents?


	10. Painted Cats and Dogs

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Natsu and Lucy have some fun finishing their English project

_Lucy's POV_

"Okay, put that over there. I think it would make it look better if we grouped the characters together, don't you?"

"Yeah, now that you mention it, it does look better that way."

Natsu rearranges the poster board so the information is where it should be.

It's late afternoon on Sunday. Natsu and I have been working on the project most of the day. It's nearly done and it really does look amazing. I don't think I could have done this by myself, Natsu really is creative. He's had so many ideas to make the poster look colorful and exciting, we even added different color strings and glitter glue. It may sound strange, but it actually works well.

We have so many different things covering the wood floor in the dining room. Natsu moved the table out of the way so we could sit on the floor and work on it.

"Ok, so I'll start painting it," he says next to me. I smile and say, "Sounds good; I'll finish gluing the information down and then I'll help you."

We decided to paint the title and subtitles on the poster because the paint looks so much brighter and nicer than the markers I suggested we used.

When I look up, I see Natsu painting red letters on the poster board. He’s so concentrated on the task he's doing and, well, it's so cute. The way he's trying so hard not to mess up.

Going back to my work, I can't help but think about how different everything is. When me and Natsu first started on this project, we could barely even look at each other without fighting. But now, we're actually listening to each other's ideas and making them better in any way we can think it can be improved.

He's different when he's alone, away from school and the people there. He's nice and funny, so I wonder why he doesn't show this side of himself more often.

And -dare I say it- I think we've become friends. I guess spending time with someone night and day could do that to a person.

Well, I don't think of Natsu as some lazy jock anymore, that's for sure. I find that I actually like to spend my time with him.

Suddenly, I feel something wet on my check. Surprised, I look up to see Natsu's laughing face with his paint brush held up next to him.

Oh, no he didn't. Did he just paint on my face!?

"Hahaha, Lucy I think you have something on your check," he says through his laughter.

I look at him with narrowing eyes; he can't honestly think I'm going to take that lying down.

"Really," I say foraging innocence, "And where would that be?" Grabbing a paint brush for myself, I dip it into the blue paint and say as I slowly make my way towards him, "Would it be, perhaps," I run the brush along his cheek as I say, "right there?" I smile at the blue streak on his face.

His mouth just hangs open, not believing what I just did to him. Suddenly he paints my arm and says, "No, actually. It's right here."

Oh, this means war.

I look down at the blue tube of paint and then back up at him. And I can see he has the same idea. We just stare into each other's eyes, daring the other to break first for their own tube of paint. His eyes are playful and I can see a hint of a smile in them. They're so dark that I swear I could get lost in them. But, there's a standoff going on right now, I don't have time to get lost.

I'm the first on to break and quickly grab the blue paint. Smiling, I look back to see Natsu grabbing the red paint.

I quickly slash at his arm and get blue the whole length of it. With the blue on his arm, I can see just how defined Natsu's muscles are. I didn't realize how buff Natsu was… it might not have been so good to have started a war with him.

And just as I thought this, he lunges at me. He pins me to the wall, and like I thought, he's really strong. There's no room for me to wiggle away, though that doesn't stop me from trying.

With me securely locked between Natsu and the wall, I can feel his hard muscles under the shirt he's wear; I look at him again and can't help myself from blushing, looking into his dark eyes; they look so playful and happy; how can eyes so dark be so light?

Snapping out of my trance, Natsu takes the red paint and starts to put two circles on my cheeks which make me look like one of those dolls with bad blush on.

However, while he was painting in the circles, his grip on me loosened and I’m able to sneak my arm up. Surprising him, I paint his noise blue and then quickly add whiskers to either side of his face, before he can pull away.

When he does, my mouth hangs open in a half open smile.

He's a freakin' cat! It's so hilarious, I can't stop laughing!

I should have known better, because my fatal mistake was quickly taken advantage of. Natsu lunges at me again, but this time he doesn't pin me to the wall, instead I find myself with the cold, hard ground underneath me and Natsu on top of me.

Suddenly, I'm really glad Natsu painted my checks red because I can feel my face heating up from the distance between our bodies. I can feel his body heat on top of me.

Natsu however, seems like he barely notices as he sits up and pins my arms to either side of me with his legs. Smiling an evil grin, he looks down at me and says, "If I'm a cat, what should I make you?" Thinking it over for a second, he suddenly has an idea. Uh oh, this can't be good.

Inching closer to my face, his grin just becomes even more evil and I can hear small cackling as his face is only inches from mine, "Maybe… a clown? Or perhaps, if we're going with the theme, a dog?"

And with that he starts to paint on my face, a dog nose and large spots. Once he’s done, he starts laughing hysterically and leans forward closing the already short distance between us.

His arms cage in my head on either side lying flat on his forearms. Still laughing, I can't help but look at him. He's so handsome; and I know every girl in the school thinks this, but I'm just now realizing exactly how handsome he truly is, and he has such a great laugh and his smile just brightens up his whole face.

His smile is large and his breath's minty, the more he laughs, I can see strands of pink hair falling over his face. And his eyes, though squinted from his smile, are deep black pools which seem to go on forever. Suddenly, he drops his head next to mine on the floor, so that we're are basically cheek to cheek. I can feel his body heat as he lies on top of me, but he seems to have ran out of breath from laughing so hard, because he takes in deep breaths with his head next to mine. I can't see his face but I can smell the scent of burning wood on him, kind of like a camp fire, husky and woody. I suddenly realize I like that smell and take in a deep breath as well.

When I let it out, I think that's when Natsu realizes, I'm still under him. He quickly gets up and sticks an awkward hand down to me.

"Uh, sorry about that," he says as he subconsciously scratches the back of his neck like he does every time he gets nervous.

I take his hand and hoist myself up as I reply with a meek little, "No, it's fine..." there's a long, awkward silence before I break it by saying, “Truce?"

Smiling he says, "Sure… but I think I won."

"What? No way! Have you seen your face? I totally won."

He scoffs, "have you seen _your_ face?"

Rolling my eyes, I head towards the main hallway to look into the mirror hanging in there. When I see my face, I can't help but gape.

"I'm a freakin' dog!" I yell, and I hear Natsu chuckle behind me. But he hasn't seen his reflection yet, when he does though, it's perfect.

"What the hell! I'm a cat!" He says with his mouth falling open. I can't help but laugh at his face; it's not every day you see a cat looking like that -and a pretty good looking one too.

When he turns back to me, we both just laugh at each other, but as our laughter dies down, we just look at each other.

After a second, I break out of my haze and back away, saying, "We better take a shower- Not together of course! I meant two different showers!" Oh, god, what am I saying.

He just smiles and playfully shakes his head at me and then says, "Yeah that sounds good to me."

"Okay, well there are only two working showers at the moment, because the third one isn't really functional, and trust me you don't want to try it. They’re both are upstairs…" I tell him.

Which one should I send him to? I mean, the one in my bathroom is mine and well, all my stuff's in there… but then again, I can't just send Natsu into my dad's room to take a shower in _his_ bathroom. _Sigh_ I guess I'll just have to go with the former.

When I turn to tell him which bathroom he'll be using, he's already gone.

Wha-? Where did he go?!

"Natsu!" I call out and wait for a response.

"I'm up here! Didn't you say the showers were upstairs?" He calls down from the second floor.

Looking up at him, who's standing at the top of the stairs, I roll my eyes. "You aren't meant to just wonder around my house without permission, you know?" I whisper under my breath.

He just smiles a big goofy grin and says, "But since we're friends it's alright."

I can't help but grin back at that lope-sided, carefree smiling face. I'm glad that he also thinks we're friends.

I quickly head up the stairs to join him. "Follow me," I tell him as I start to head down the hallway leading to the right.

"I'll take a shower in my dad's room and you'll take my bathroom," I explain to him.

"Ok… but why? I mean it's your bathroom, shouldn't you use it?" When he asks me this, I glance behind my shoulder to see him walking behind me relaxed with his hands behind his head looking at the pictures on the wall. It's obvious he's only asking out of curiosity, but with him standing like that I can easily see his arm muscles flex, and man is it hot… I gulp, turning back around I explain, "Well, my dad isn't home so he can't really give a stranger permission to use his personal bathroom, whereas I can give you permission to use mine, and besides, I'm sure my dad wouldn't mind me using his bathroom."

When we reach my room, I turn the handle and swing it open. It's light in here because the sun is shining through the windows in my room. I have one next to my bed, and two next to my desk, but there's enough room for my telescope to be place next to it. On the opposite wall I can see my star constellation poster hanging on the wall. My bed's made, probably because I haven't slept in it for the past couple nights and the floor's fairly clean. There's some clothes scattered in places, but not too crazy. The walls are painted a little yellow, kind of like a chick-yellow and my dresser is opposite to my bed. Next to my bed is the door that leads to my bathroom.

"Why do you have so many star stuff in here?" Natsu asks as he looks around the room.

I smile fondly at the thought of stars, "Stars have always fascinated me, the constellations especially. They're just so beautiful and mysterious; I could stare at them all day if I could."

"Hmmm," was Natsu's only reply.

"The bathrooms right through there," I say pointing to the closed door next to my bed. "There are towels in there and feel free to use the shampoo and conditioner, as well as the body wash. I'll be down the hall if you need anything. "

"Okay, thanks Lucy." Natsu says as he walks into the other room.

"Oh, and don't go snooping through my things," I tell Natsu warningly.

He just looks at me and smirks with one eyebrow raised, he says, "Why would I snoop? Who wants to see a Fatty's underwear?"

I roll my eyes and just reply with, "Just don't do it you idiot."

Content with that, I leave my room and head towards my father's room down the hall.

When I get there, I turn on the shower and wait for the water to heat up. Looking at the mirror, I let my hair down from its pony tail. I look at myself in the mirror for a moment; I have a gray baggy shirt on and I can't help but think how similar I look compared to my mom. Once I take off my shirt, I can see my nicely toned body, but my eyes travels to my left shoulder and I subconsciously touch it with my right hand. Though, I can't see the scar because it's on my back, I still know it's there.

I tear my eyes away from the spot and look back at my face. Then I smile, I still have the paint all over my face thanks to Natsu.

Moving away from the mirror, I take the rest of my clothes off and head into the shower with the warm water hitting my back. It feels so nice.

Once I'm done in the shower, I turn off the water and grab a towel from the towel rack. I wrap it tightly around me. The towel covers the top part of my body and goes to about my mid-thigh.

Now, clothes… wait… CLOTHES!

Shit! I forgot to grab clothes; I'm usually right next to my room, so I don't bring clothes with me to take a shower. And it just slipped my mind to grab some.

What should I do!? I need clothes!

Well… maybe Natsu's still in the shower and I can just grab them really quick. I know where they are and I'll be fast.

Yeah, okay, I'll do that. I make my way out of my father's bathroom and into the hallway and start to head towards my room.

But what if he's done? Then what?

Just see, I'll just see if he's still in the shower, if he is great. If not… well I'll figure that out later.

I finally reach my door, taking in a deep breath I crack the door open just a little and peek into the room. There's no one in there and I can faintly hear the shower still going.

I sigh in relief and open the door wider and head straight for my dresser.

I pull out the first drawer, which comes out of its place louder than I intended for it. I wince, I hope Natsu didn't hear that.

I quickly start to shuffle through my drawer to find a t-shirt.

Suddenly, I hear the bathroom door swing open behind me.

Oh God… please, please tell me Natsu did not just enter the room!

Taking a few gulps of air before I turn around to face him, I vaguely process him walking closer to me as he says, "Hey what's that-?"

But before he finishes, I turn around to look at him and he stops mid-sentences and mid-stride; basically frozen.

As for myself, well I feel like a deer caught in head lights.

Natsu's standing there… dressed only in a towel… dripping wet. And my God, I can't take my eyes off him.

He's so close to me that I can smell the shampoo he used. He smells so nice and clean; all traces of the paint are gone now.

He has a nicely tanned body and oh my god I think I might just melt here, his muscles are so defined. I can see water droplet sliding down his toned arm muscles and pecs. I really want to touch him, to feel the hard muscles. I want to be hugged by those strong arms, just so I can know what it feels like. I want to wrap my arm around him and snuggle my head into the crevice of his neck. I wonder if I'd feel his warmth. Would I feel protected in his arms?

I never realized just how masculine Natsu is. And he has such an absolutely perfect body.

I see another droplet slide down his abs and I can't help but follow it with my eyes until it disappears below the towel he's wearing around his waist.

_Gulp._

I'm naked… he's naked… eep!

I quickly look away, I have a huge blush on right now and when I do look back up at Natsu, I can see his dark eyes, though they're not looking into mine. Which is fine with me, I couldn't imagine meeting his gaze at a moment like this.

My eyes wonder up to his pink hair. It's damp from the shower he just took, but it's still slightly spiky. It looks so soft. His jawline is just as defined as his muscles and I can see a shallow cut close to his chin. He must have used one of the disposable shavers to get rid of the stubble he was sporting not too long ago. His lips are slightly parted and red. They are thin and smooth, I wonder what it would be like if I kissed those lips. How would it feel? If I just ran my hands through his hair, cupped his jaw, and pulled him to me with my hands around his neck.

I look back at him again and this time we catch each other's eyes. And my blush returns with ferocity.

We’re silent for a moment, then he suddenly coughs and looks away.

That snaps me out of my daze and I realize that I'm also still in only a towel.

I quickly turn around; a small 'eep' escaping my mouth. After a second or two, I turn back around to look at him, but when I do his face is pulled into a frown. Confusion runs across my face and I open my mouth to ask him what's wrong. But before a single word comes out, he asks, "Lucy. What's that scar on your back? How did you get that?"

My right hand shoots up to touch my shoulder and now I also have a frown on my face. "That's… a long story…" I say, leaving the explanation unfinished.

He just looks at me now, a determined face on; "Tell me," is all he says.

I look into his eyes and they're hard; from determination or anger, I don't know. But I do know there is no getting out of this.

I've spent the last week with Natsu, doing the project and even just hanging out with him and by now I know he's just as stubborn as me, there's no use in trying to keep this secret. I mean now that he's seen it, there's no hiding it.

Not looking at him, I sigh and say in a serious tone, "First, let's get dressed and then I'll tell you the story."

He nods, the determined look never leaving his face. And with that, he heads back into the bathroom and I grab the clothes from my dresser. Before changing into them however, I quickly grab clothes for Natsu from my father's closet.

"Natsu your clothes are on my bed, I'll change in my father's room." And with that I leave to go change.


	11. Everyone has a Past

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The two finally talk and learn more about the other

_Natsu's POV_

_~about 30 minutes before~_

I was painting the title of our project when I look up to see Lucy spacing off.

I can’t help but smile, _the_ straight A student, day dreaming, who'd of believed it.

She looks so cute like that, I mean come on really. Her golden hair falling in front of her face and her brown eyes not really focused on anything.

That's when an idea pops into my head. She really shouldn't be daydreaming in the middle of doing a project, now should she?

I quickly take the paint brush and swipe it along her cheek and start to laugh when she snaps out of her daze and realize what just happened.

"Hahaha, Lucy I think you have something on your face," I tell her, still laughing.

She just narrows her eyes and says, "Really, and where would that be?"

I knew something was going to happen when she grabs the extra brush and dips it in the blue paint.

I look at her cryptically when she continues, "Would it be, perhaps, right here?" She quickly lunges at me and marks my face with a blue streak.

I'm agape with what she just did; oh, hell no, she'll regret this.

I paint her arm before saying, "No, actually. It's right here."

Smirking, I see her look at the blue tube of paint. I also take a glance at my red paint. So, she wants war, is that it. Well, I won't loss.

I look back at her and we're stuck in a stalemate, just like one of those old cowboy movies.

I look at her and I can't help but fall deep into those chocolate brown eyes, they're so light and playful. They look so beautiful and they complement her nicely. Suddenly she goes to grab her paint and that's my cue to grab mine as well.

Before I knew it, Lucy's painted my arm, dang it she got the first blow. That won't last for long though.

I quickly lunge at her, pinning her to the wall and holding her there with my body as I take my brush and start to paint on her cheeks. I can feel her body pressing against mine, which surprises me a little, she doesn't seem fat. All I can really feel is her upper half pressing against me, which would mean there isn't any fat beneath her breasts. Shaking my head, I push the thought away, and concentrate on filling in the circles I painted on her face. She has such soft looking skin.

Suddenly I feel something wet touch my nose and then quickly mark three slashes on either side of my face, surprised I see Lucy laughing in front of me.

She's so alluring when she's laughing, it's so much better than when she's upset. Her eyes sparkle when she's smiling and it's hard to stop myself from smiling when I see her do it.

However, getting back to reality I realize she’s painted a cat face on me. A freakin' cat!

Oh, there's no way I'll let her get away with that. While she’s laughing, I quickly tackle her to the ground and straddle her while pinning her arms to her sides using my legs.

I look down at her and say evilly, "If I'm a cat, what should I make you?" I can see the blood drain from her face and my smile grows. Let's see, if I'm a cat then I'm going to make her an animal as well. What's the opposite of a cat?

A dog!

I bring the paint brush closer to her face as I say, "Maybe… a clown?" taunting her, I continue, "Or perhaps, if we're going with the theme, a dog?" With that said, I start to paint large dots on her face like a Dalmatian. She subconsciously closes her eyes and scrunches up her noise, preparing to take the punishment and I can't help but smile. It's so cute the way she does that.

When I’m done, I sit up to take a look at my handy work and begin to laugh. By now Lucy's eyes are open; she looks so funny as a dog. I'm dying, it's so funny. My sides start to hurt and I hunch over to stop them from hurting too much, but I still can't stop laughing. She looks so funny as a dog.

Taking in a deep breath I lean my arms and forehead against the hard floor by Lucy's head. I need to catch my breath from that laughing fit. Again, I can feel Lucy's breasts press against me and her body heat rolls off her and it feels good. It's been such a long time since I've laughed like that with another person, let alone a girl. It feels good to laugh like this with her, I'm glad we're friends.

I stay there taking in deep breaths; I feel so relaxed right now. I can smell flowers, mixed with fresh rain from Lucy. I wonder if this is her natural scent. It smells so nice; I close my eyes and take in some more deep breaths; my senses being filled with her scent.

Then I hear her let out a breath and my eyes snap open. I scramble to get off her.

What the hell was I doing?! That's so weird.

Lucy's still on the ground and I stick out a hand to help her up, but I never meet her eyes.

"Uh, sorry about that," I say awkwardly.

She says in a small voice, "No, it's fine…"

Why was I smelling Lucy; that even sounds weird in my head. Oh God, I hope she didn't notice.

There was a long silence, when Lucy finally says, "Truce?"

* * *

Lucy leaves and I head into her bathroom. Smiling from the whole ordeal, I turn on the shower to hot. I quickly grab one of the pink disposable shavers Lucy has and start to remove the pink stubble on my face, waiting for the water to heat up.

When I enter the shower, I start to wash off the paint, once it's all gone I use her shampoo and start to rinse. With the water hitting my back and scalp, I can't help but think about what's happened between us.

I mean, we are complete opposites; I'm popular, she's a nerd; we're just like cat and dog. There's no way we could ever be friends.

…And yet, here we are.

She's not just some nerd, I've realized just how different she is to what I thought she was. It's like there's a whole different level to her than the girl she shows people at school. I'm glad we're friends and I'm glad I’ve gotten to see that side of her, the side only a small few get to see.

 _Creak_ what was that? Is Lucy out there?

"Lucy" I call over the water. But I don't get any reply. Shrugging, I turn off the water and get out of the shower. Going to the linen closet, I grab one of her towels and wrap it around my waist.

Then I heard a bigger clatter come from the room behind the bathroom door. Confused, I swing the door open to see Lucy going through one of her drawers.

She freezes; what she's doing, I start towards her.

What is she doing in here, did she really forget to bring clothes with her? And what's that thing on her left shoulder blade. I start to ask, but before I can finish the question she turns around and I finally realize she's naked.

Ok, well not naked, naked, but naked, towel naked. I freeze inches away from her.

I can see her figure perfectly with her towel draped around her tightly and let me tell you; all this time I thought she was fat… I couldn't be more wrong. She has the perfect hour glass figure. Like she has big boobs and a skinny waist that leads to large hips and butt. Her skins white, but not sickly white, it's more like white in the way that it hasn't seen the sun, it looks so smooth and soft. I can see her thighs and legs which are both nice and defined as well as her arms, but not like mine, it's more settle than my defined muscles.

I can see her long neck is dripping with water, and I watch as a water droplet goes down her neck, slides down her collar bone, and down her chest, till it reaches the crack of her breasts and slides further down and out of sight, I look up, blushing a little.

When I look at her face though, I can't help but stare at her; she looks so dazzling.

She has such large eyes and there's water sticking to her long eyelashes. Her beautiful brown eyes the color of melted milk chocolate entrances me; the way they make me feel warm inside. When I look into them I feel accepted, like I can tell her anything and she’ll understand; no matter what it is I say she’ll be there.

I can see a blush on her face. And all I want to do is reach up and hold her face in my hands just so I can feel her soft skin. Now that I think about it, I also want to hold her; really close. To bring her towards me so that I can smell that scent that it so distinctly her. I want to run my fingers through her golden wet hair and rub my thumb across her check. I can see her red lips are full; what would it be like to kiss those lips? Would it be airy? Soft? Would they feel like cushions against my own thine lips?

I catch her eye which causes her blush to grow and it reminds me of our current situation. We're both basically naked and the only thing separating us from that fact is thin towels draped across our bodies; and well Lucy is very attractive and as I look at her, my blood starts to flow in places it shouldn't, at least not when I'm only wearing a towel… in Lucy's room… with Lucy... who's also only wearing a towel.

I start to get nerves. My member is starting to get hard and I really hope she doesn't notice. I cough and look away from Lucy, trying to get my mind off the present situation.

With a small 'eep' Lucy turns around, which kind of helps with my problem.

With her still turned away from me, I see that thing on her back again. But now that I'm closer, I can see what it is clearly. It's a jagged scar, about 5-inches in length.

What's that? Why does she have a scar on her back? How did she get that? It looks like it was painful, and it didn’t heal correctly.

My eyebrows pull into a frown and I reach out to touch it, but then decide that's probably not a good move.

I pull back and when Lucy looks at me again, she appears confused. But before she can say anything I ask her in a low tone, "Lucy. What's that scar on your back? How did you get that?"

Lucy's right hand goes to touch her left shoulder and she looks pained. Which hurts me, and makes me angry. Why does she have that expression? "That's… a long story…" she says strained.

I set my jaw, she's not getting out of this, "Tell me," I say determined, leaving no room for arguing in my tone.

I'm set on hearing the story from her.

She looks at me for a moment and I just stare right back into her eyes not flinching away or moving. She then sighs. "First, let's get dressed and then I'll tell you the story."

I nod and walk towards the bathroom again, so she can get her clothes and stuff. After a few minutes I hear her say, "Natsu your close are on my bed, I'll change in my father's room." And with that she leaves again.

* * *

By the time I get downstairs Lucy's already down there sitting on the couch with a neutral expression on. When I see it, I can't help feel troubled. It's obvious there's something behind that scar, and that expression is terrible, I like Lucy better when she's smiling.

I sit on the same couch as her and wait for her to start the story. When she looks up at me I can see that she's trying to avoid the topic even before she opens her mouth, "Um, Natsu the story's kind of long and boring, I don't know if you really want to hear it."

I stay silent and just look at her for a second before saying, "We have time, I'm sleeping over remember?" Then I smile, I mean I'm not trying to make her feel uncomfortable, if anything I want to know more about her and I'm trying to be supportive if not comforting.

She smiles back and says meekly, "Well, you can't blame a girl for trying."

It's silent again, when she finally says, "Oh and I ordered pizza for dinner tonight, just so you know we won't have to cook anything."

I take a big breath before I say, "Lucy, if you don't want to tell me, I understand. I don't want to make you say anything you don't want to say." I mean it's for her to tell me and not for me to make her; even if not telling me will drive me crazy.

She looks at me for another second or two and smiles, "No, I want to tell you. I mean we're pretty close friends now, right."

At that, I can't stop the smile that spreads across my face. "Right," I say.

Taking in a deep breath, Lucy begins her story,

"Well, it happened years ago…” Clearing her throat, she continues, “When I was really little, maybe 5 years old. My mom got sick, like really sick. She was bedridden for months and, well, the doctors didn't have an answer or solution to the problem. I was so little back then; I barely knew what was going on. But she eventually died. I loved my mother so much; she was beautiful and kind, and our family was happy. But when she died…"

Here Lucy trails off, and I stay silent giving her as much time as she needs to collect her thoughts. I’m shocked to hear about her mother; the lady in the photo in the hallway looks so full of life. It must have been so hard for Lucy to have lost her mother when she was so young.

"My dad, he was different; before my mom died, he was funny and he loved us, me and my mom. But when she passed he changed. He became depressed and cold. He didn't know what to do, he had this 5-year-old kid who was always asking where her mother went, not quiet understanding what it meant to die; not only that but the love of his life was gone forever and he couldn't do anything to stop it. So, he resorted to drinking."

When she says this my eyes grow big. Her dad was an alcoholic, how could he have done that with such a little girl in the house, when that little girl needed him because she had lost her mother; he left her in favor for a bottle.

Not noticing my reaction, Lucy continues her story, "It's like he became a hollow creature compared to the father I knew. After a while I learned what it felt like to be alone, though my mother died it was like I lost both of my parents. I learned to do things myself and grew up alone." It was silent in the room after she says this. And I just let it soak in, just how hard that would be, someone you love and who loves you becoming a hollow being leaving you alone to deal with your own grief by yourself at such a young age.

"After a couple of year, probably when I was in middle school I started going through puberty you know. And, well, every day I grew, I began to look increasingly more like my mom and, well when my dad would drink he'd sometimes think I was her. That's why I started wearing baggy clothes, so I would look less like her, but all the same, I can't change my face... At first, it was heartbreaking. He would cry and ask me why I left him alone? I would try and tell him I wasn't Layla but his daughter, but he wouldn't listen. And eventually he'd pass out from the alcohol and I would have to carry him to his bed and get him water, so he wouldn't have a hangover. It was like a daily routine."

After I hear this, I furry my brows together, so the other night when she got me water after Lisanna's party she was doing it out of habit from her father. My frown just grows, but I stay silent and continue listening to her story.

"Well when I turned 14, he changed. He no longer would cry when he saw me, he'd get aggressive." Alarmed I was about to say something but she quickly put her hand up telling me to let her finish, "He never harmed me too badly, never enough to take me to the E.R. or anything, usually he would just scare me. Yelling and accusing me, saying that my mother left him on purpose, stuff like that. Well one night he got stupid drunk, like extremely, scare drunk and, well I just couldn't take it anymore. He always screamed at me thinking I was Layla, so I told him to back off and stop drinking. I wasn't his wife and I missed her too. Well he didn't like that all too much. So, he threw the bottle he was drinking and it hit the wall behind me. It shattered and shards of glass flew everywhere; a particularly large one went into my back."

I’m so shocked I just let my mouth hang open for a bit. Lucy’s quiet, but when she looks up at me she wears a small, sad smile.

"Well, when he saw the blood he sobered up really quickly. I went to the hospital and received stitches, the whole time he didn't say a thing, but the next day he left. And I was once again left alone for about two weeks wondering what happened to my dad. When he came back though, he no longer drank and he seemed to have got his shit together. And I guess you could say he did; in some aspects, but-"

Right then the bell rang. I nearly jump a foot when I hear it; it scares the living daylights out of me. Shaking my head, I hear Lucy giggling at my reaction, I can't help the a tender smile on my face at her giggling form.

We get up and head to her front door. I swing it open and see the pizza man standing there with a large cheese pizza. He nods at me and Lucy. Then she asks him, "How much?"

"$7.59" The guys says bored.

Lucy nods and goes to grab the money from what I would assume is the living room.

I look at the guy; he's dressed in a black and red t-shirt with a red visor. He's chewing gum and has his nose pierced. He has black hair that goes down to his ears.

Looking at me he says, "Hey, you've got a pretty hot girlfriend there."

Before I can correct him, he continues, "If I had a girl like that, the things I would do to her." As the guy says this, I can see his eyes narrow and he looks in the direction Lucy went, all the while with a creepy smile on his face.

When I see this, I stand up straight. But, before I can say anything Lucy's back. Smiling she hands the guy his money, "Here you go."

He smiles back and took it from her, his hand lingering a bit too long on hers for my liking, "Thanks."

I look from him to her and back to him and then quickly drape my arm around Lucy's shoulder before saying, "Oh, it's no problem." I just stare at him, there's no warmth in my gaze, and take the pizza. He just shrugs and walks down the porch stairs and back to his car.

I close the door after him and look down at Lucy who's still under my arm. I quickly take it off her and cough, not making any eye contact. With the pizza in my hand, I head back into the living room followed by a confused Lucy.

Putting the pizza on the coffee table, I flip it open and grab a slice. Sitting down on the couch, I take a bite and then turn to Lucy.

"So, you were telling me how your dad got better."

She looks up at me still biting into her own slice of pizza and starts to nod. "Yeah, well I said he got better at some aspects, like he stopped drinking and it really seemed like he got his stuff together. He started really running the company that my parents had owned together. He was a really CEO again, not only that but with the new improvements he was making, the company started booming and racking in money. But he never did return to that loving father I knew before my mother died. It even seemed like he got colder once he sobered up. He always talked to me like I was some employee that he had to manage, and never as a daughter. Not only that but because the company got so large, he's always going on business trips leaving me here, by myself. I'm used to it now; have been for a couple of years." Lucy finishes her story with another bite of her pizza and I follow suit and take a bite of my own pizza.

After a moment of silence, I ask her a question that's been bugging me, "Have you ever tried running away?"

She's silent, but turns to me. "Yes. I've tried it a few times, but each time I’m brought back here and locked in my room for a couple of days. And even then, my dad would have some security guy follow me around afterwards to make sure I'd come back home after school. After a while I gave up trying."

I make a face at the new information but, seeing the look, Lucy quickly says, "It's not all bad though, when I turn 18 in a couple of months I can move out and be my own person. I don't have to think or worry about any of this once I'm my own adult." I don't say anything, I just nod.

I guess Lucy's life isn't all that perfect like I first thought; she has just as many problems as anyone else, probably even more than most people... she's tried to run away like me. She's tried to escape from a life that's just too hard, just like me.

Maybe we're more alike than I first thought.

I think about everything she's told me for a moment. I'm taken aback; how can this girl be so strong and nobody knows it? I've only ever seen her as the nerd, the geek at school, the girl with the straight A's and nose in a book, nothing more, nothing less; I never imagined that there was anything more to her. Lucy is truly amazing.

I look at her as she eats her pizza, she's so strong and it’s like she doesn’t even know it. If any other person would have gone through the things she did, they would be broken and messed up. And here this girl is; straight A's, smart, funny, kind, beautiful, and fun. She’s willing to help people, even those who’s tormented her for years. She is stunning in so many ways.

Absolutely amazing.

I smile fondly at her. She is no typical nerd.

With that thought in mind I grab another piece of pizza and bite into it.

* * *

_Lucy's POV_

After about 15 minutes and a couple of slices later, Natsu turns to me and says, "Man, I'm stuffed."

I laugh at him, "Well, no duh, you had half a pizza!" There was only three pieces left, I could only stuff down three, but this guy managed six.

When I look at him moping on the couch, rubbing his stomach, I can't help the large smile that spreads across my face. I feel so much better now that I've told him my past. Not only that but he listened and he's not treating me any differently than he did before.

When I told Levy, she walked on eggshells around me for a whole week, and then every time my dad was brought up she would get furious, even now she doesn't like the man; though she's never met him.

Stretching, Natsu suddenly sits up.

He looks at me for something close to 30 seconds and I can feel my face grow red. Why's he staring at me?

Whatever the reason, his eyes change and it seems like he's made up his mind on something.

Still looking at me, he says, "Well, now that I've had something to eat, it's time for me to tell you my sap story."

"Huh?" I say, "You don't have to."

He just grins that goofy smile of his and says, "I know, but I want to. We're friends after all."

I smile back and say, "Okay." I’m glad he trusts me enough to tell me his past.

"Well, the first thing you should know is that I've never met my mother. Whether she just up and left when I was a baby, or died in child birth, no one's ever told me one way or the other," Natsu says.

I just let that sink in. It bothers me that no one has ever told him what happened to his mother, he has a right to know. It's also sad, at least I got to have a happy family before it was torn apart.

Natsu just waves off my reaction to his statement and continues with his story, "As for my dad… well I can't remember much about him. I have some memories here and there, but I do know he loved me and that I always get this happy feeling when I think about him. He left me at an orphanage when I was probably 6. I never knew why he left or where he went. But, the last thing he said to me was 'I love you and don't you ever forget that,' that I'm certain of... so I guess that counts for something."

Natsu's silent for some time after that. When I look at him, I can see his face is sad, probably thinking about his long-lost family, a family that could have been happy if given the chance. He never knew what happen to his mother, and his father just left him, even though it was apparent that he loved Natsu. I couldn't imagine all the questions something like that would bring. All your life wondering what happened and if they were still alive; where were they and why haven't they come and gotten you or even just made some sort of contact. It would drive me over the edge.

When he finally speaks again, his tone is different from before. It's like all the warmth was gone and it worried me. "I've been stuck in the foster care system ever since then. Never having a real home or anyone that cares about me. My foster parents don't care what happens to me as long as they get the state's money for raising a 'homeless, useless, and worthless kid who's no better than the filth out on the streets' as I've heard them put it; at least that's what they call me and my foster siblings. Every person I've cared about left me, I was alone in a world that didn't care about some random, poor orphan. I have no home... Well that was until Lisanna; though it wasn't real... it still felt real for a while at least."

Again it goes silent, I don't say anything, but I do scoot closer to him; close enough that we can feel each other’s body heat and he knows I'm there for him.

Suddenly he scoffs and says, "I've tried running away before as well…"

Then, he continues in a quieter voice that's nearly a whisper; if I wasn't so close I wouldn't have been able to hear him, "Far away from this life, far away from all my worries and doubts, all the drama and fake smiles."

I let that sink in. The fake smiles from Lisanna, from his foster parents, all those people who just want to use him for their personal gain; all those so called 'subjects' of his, Sting, his supposed best friend at school. How could he have put up with all that? It must be really hard to trust people when you've lived your whole life with fake smiles and people who come and go like a car in a parking lot.

Is that why he acts the way he does at school? Is it because of the problems he has at home; is that the reason for his failing grades and upside-down behavior? Because I've seen him when he's by himself and let me tell you, that guy's much better than the one I see at school.

Is he wearing a mask at school so he won't get hurt?

...He's incredible. He's so durable, going through all that and still coming out as the guy that I know, the one who's with me right now. Natsu, you truly are a wonder.

Creative, funny, handsome, clever, kind, Natsu how did you turn out so perfect with such a messed-up life.

He’s no ordinary jock, I’ll be the first one to say this. He is so much more; and I will admit, I didn't always see him that way, I always thought of him as some annoying prep, but man was I wrong. And I'm glad I am, there are so many different sides to him, and each time I see a new one, I just like him that much more.

"I'm always brought back by child services, though. So, when I turn 18, I'm going to get out of this place and start fresh in a place where they don't know who I am; a place where I won't know who they are… a new start."

A new start, huh? That sounds nice.

With that thought in mind, I rest my head on his shoulder and we sit in silence for a while.


	12. Hiding from Your Dad

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lucy's dad comes home and catches Natsu and Lucy together... kinda

_Natsu's POV_

I wake with a start. Me and Lucy fell asleep on the couch after our talk last night. She’s leaning on my shoulder and I can't help but smile at her sleeping face. I can smell the same fresh rain and flowers on her like I did yesterday and her blonde hair is shining in the morning sun.

Suddenly I hear the noise that woke me up in the first place again. It sounds like a car pulling into the long driveway. I hear the gate open from outside, letting a car into the property.

Confused I look down at Lucy. Was she expecting someone to come over today?

I gently shake her awake; when I do she gets up with a start.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to startle you." I say to the still sleepy looking Lucy.

"No, no. It's fine, but why'd you wake me? Are you hungry or something?" She asks me as she reaches behind her head with both hands and stretches. When she does this I have a good view of her breasts and avert my eyes, it doesn't help that she's wearing a tank-top either.

I shake my head trying to clear it for those kinds of thoughts this early in the morning; besides, there are more pressing matters to take care of rather than Lucy's nice body.

"No, nothing like that. I just heard a car outside and was wondering if you were expecting anyone…" by the look on her face I can tell that she wasn't.

Getting off the couch, Lucy makes her way to the large window in the living room and stares out of it. From the couch, I can see her confused expression change to clarity then panic.

"What is it? Who's-"but before I can finish the sentence Lucy turns to me quickly and starts to push me out of the living room.

"Oh no, oh no, oh no." She just keeps repeating.

I turn around and grab her by the shoulders and level a gaze at her, forcing her to slow down. "Luce what is it?" I ask her, looking directly in her eyes. She looks back at me and takes a couple of deep breathes before replying. "It's my dad. He's back from his business trip early. He wasn't supposed to be back until Friday, but I guess his trip got cut short. And now he's back and well you're here and you're a guy…" she doesn't have to say anymore. I mean we're both teenagers, of the opposite sex, on a free day, early in the morning, too early for a friend to just be dropping by. If someone were to see us together in pajamas they would most likely assume that we slept together.

"Oh," is the only thing I say with that imagine in my head. My checks start to warm up and I can't imagine trying to explain everything that's happened the last couple of days to her father, let only tell him that I've stayed here the last three nights.

"Yeah," she says, "now help me clean this up really quick."

There wasn't a lot of cleaning to be done cause me and Lucy fell asleep on the couch without any blankets or pillows, the only thing really was the pizza box. So, I grab it and throw it away in the kitchen and then come back to see Lucy straightening out some of the cushions.

Then we hear the garage open to let Lucy's dad's car in. Looking around, I try to find a place to hide. My eyes spot the shoe closet. I quickly make my way towards it.

And as I open it, I hear Lucy behind me say, "Ah, your shoes!" She runs up to the front door and grabs them. We hear Lucy's dad beep his car locked and the jungle of his keys as he makes his way towards the house.

"Shit!" Lucy says as she pushes me into the closet and then quickly follows after me.

"Lucy! What are-"

"Shhhh!" She says, just as her dad opens the front door and enters the house.

We hold our breath as we wait to see if we'll be caught.

The closet we're in is small and there's barely room enough for one person let alone two. We're pushed up against each other, Lucy's back is to me and my chest is to her back.

We hear Lucy's dad leave from the main entrance towards another room in the house. Lucy starts to move pushing her ear to the door, trying to figure out where he went to, but as she moves I notice something very alarming. Because it's such a confined place, every time Lucy moves she rubs up against me and my crotch.

"I think he's heading to the kitchen," Lucy whispers. But I just nod because I'm too focused on not moving so there won't be any more rubbing.

Without warning Lucy begins to move again trying to get into a more comfortable position. I suppress a groan. I can feel her body push up against me and she keeps rubbing my groin.

Suddenly Lucy moves quickly to the left and my breath hitches in the back of my throat. Taking in deep breath before I croak out in a low husky whisper, "Lucy, you need to stop moving around."

"What? Why" She whispers back as she starts to wiggle around so she can be face to face with me. But in doing so, her thigh rubs against my crotch again and it's that moment that I look down at her and can see down her tank top.

What the hell Lucy! Don't you know what happens when you rub up against a guy like that! Not only that, but since we're so close I can smell the odor your body naturally radiates and that's certainly not helping. This time I can't suppress the little groan that escapes past my lips as I feel my member grow hard.

Now facing me, Lucy reaches up and covers my mouth with her hand so I can't make any more noises. She shoots me a look that's basically telling me to shut up.

But now that she's facing me, our hips aren't touching so there's a little breathing room and I don't think Lucy really noticed what happened. Wow this girl is dense, does she really not know why I was making those noises and that she’s the reason behind them? Does she not know the male's anatomy?

I'm just glad that's over, this position is much better. At least she's not moving around anymore and her body's not touching my lower regions.

But as we stand there in silence with Lucy's hand on my mouth and the space between us none existent I can't help but realize just how close we are. I can feel her boobs pushed up against my chest and I can feel the heat of her body next to mine and the more I look into her eyes I can't help but stare.

Her eyes are a wonderful shade of brown, so bright, the brightest brown I've ever seen. I could look at them all day. Her eyelashes frame them perfectly too.

As if feeling my eyes on her, Lucy looks up at me and stares into my eyes as well. At first her checks become flushed at the constant staring, but they slowly go back to their regular shade.

Slowly she removes her hand from my face and lets it drop onto my chest. As we continue looking at each other, we slowly inch closer until there's little less than an inch between our noses. I reach out with my one of my hands and place it on her side, bringing her even closer to me.

_BAM!_

Both me and Lucy jump. Because of the limited space in the closet Lucy hits her head against the door. "Ow," she whines.

Outside we hear Lucy's dad start up his car and pull out of the driveway and back onto the street.

We wait another minute before exiting the closet just to make sure he was gone for sure.

When we're finally outside of the cramped room I can't help my thoughts from wondering back to a few seconds ago.

Me and Lucy nearly… kissed?

What was that?

I look over to Lucy and she looks like she's lost in her own train of thought.

Was I really about to kiss Lucy? I mean, yeah, we're friends now, but you don't go around kissing your friends.

I don't know, maybe I was caught up in the moment. Lucy did look pretty standing there in front of me and she smelled really nice, and who could forget about the way her body felt like it fit perfectly into mine, oh and she felt so soft... Gosh, what am I thinking about. I start to scratch the back of my head and looking down like I always do when I get nerves or flustered.

When I look back up to Lucy, her face is contorted into a confused one.

Suddenly, I become aware of the fact that we're just standing in the hallway facing each other in complete silence, so I clear my throat.

That breaks Lucy out of her own world, and she looks up at me as if she's just realizing for the first time that I've been standing here.

She shakes her head as she says, "Oh, uh sorry about that…"

"It's, um. No, it's fine." There's a long awkward pause after I say this and we just stand there looking at each other awkwardly.

Suddenly Lucy turns around and heads to the living room.

"Hey, where are you going?" I ask her as I follow after her.

"Well, I saw my father enter the living room before I could no longer hear him." Lucy answers and stops at the entrance taking a quick glance around the room.

I cross my arms as I say, "If you ask me, your dad was here really quick for being on a business trip for nearly a week. I mean, he didn't even stay to say hi to you or get comfortable. He literally stopped by and was off again. Where is he going anyway?"

Not looking at me, Lucy heads to the kitchen saying, "He'll be heading to the company to 'report in' and don't worry too much about it I'm used to him not being around even when he is. But he usually lets me know when he gets back…" she trails off as she looks around the kitchen.

Then she spots what she’s looking for on the counter top. A folded white piece of paper. Lucy quickly makes her way over to the paper and opens it.

As she reads it, she makes her way back to my side and I read it over her shoulder.

_Lucy, I'm back from my business trip. I'll be home for the evening, but I'll be leaving early tomorrow morning to visit a company firm in Japan. I won't be back from that trip for a couple of days, maybe a week or two. I'll be at the office all day and I'll be home late so have dinner without me._

_-Jude_

After reading the note, I can't help but furry my eyebrows together as a frown sets onto my face. He just got back from a long trip and he doesn't even say hi to Lucy, not only that but he's going to be gone all day at his company _and_ he's leaving again in the morning. Like what is up with this guy!

"Luce-"

"This is bad." She says.

"I know. And I'm sorry that you didn't get to see him when he got home because of me," I say, "Though he is kind of a dick." I mumble.

She turns to look at me and says, "Oh no, it's nothing like that, I'm used to him being a dick. What I'm talking about is the fact that he's going to be here tonight."

Confused I say, "Okay… I don't really see the problem with that?"

Lucy rolls her eyes and says, "Well, if he's staying the night, he'll know that you're staying here."

"Oh. Yeah, I can see the problem with that, "I say as the situations dawns on me.

"Yeah," Lucy says and then she starts walking towards the living room chewing on her lip trying to think of a solution to the problem. "What should we do?"

Not knowing what to say, I look at the clock on the wall and say, "Well it's 10:47 now so we have a couple of hours to think up an idea, but for now why don't we make something to eat."

Now that I think about it, I'm starved. I look down to my stomach and grab it as it begins to rumble. I look up to Lucy with my lips pushed out and making the puppy dog look.

She just laughs at my face and says, "I guess you're right. What do you want to eat?"

* * *

_Clank, scrub, rinse, squeak, clank_

I turn off the kitchen sink and wipe my hands on a cloth. I just finished washing the dishes me and Lucy used for dinner. There wasn't much to clean because it’s only the two of us. As I cleaned the dishes Lucy went upstairs to prepare her room for the 'sleepover'.

After hours of racking our brains for an idea to the problem this afternoon we came up with the solution that I should just sleep on Lucy's floor in her room. It wasn't perfect but it was only for the night so it would have to do.

Really though this guy, _Jude_ , really bugs me. Everything about him irks me and rubs me the wrong way.

I sigh and put the cloth down on the kitchen's island. I head out of the kitchen and towards the stairs, but as I leave I glance up at the clock it's near 11, Lucy and I had a late dinner and afterwards we busied ourselves cleaning the house so there was no trace that I was staying here.

It was actually kind of fun; we played music, danced, and sung to the songs that would come on over the radio. And man let me tell you Lucy is no singer! I mean she wasn't bad, but it was hard keeping a straight face with her belting the songs with her voice out of key.

Her dancing on the other hand was a whole different matter.

The other night at Lisanna's party I couldn't help but wonder what Lucy would look like dancing and well I finally got my answer.

I was awestruck when she first started dancing. She looked so elegant and natural in the way she moved her body, nothing like the seductive way Lisanna moved. It was like when Lisanna dances you would look at her in a predatory kind of way, but when Lucy dances, you can't help but marvel and just want to watch her move, not in any sexual way but in the way you would look at a work of art.

I was really impressed, it was like the music spoke to her in ways others couldn't hear and I caught myself staring a couple of times. And so did Lucy, she would laugh at me and then grab my arm and pull me into a dance. But boy, with the way she dances, I could have two left feet. I thought I could dance, and well I could when all I had to do was sway from one foot to the other when I was dancing with Lisanna, but Lucy dragged me all around the room doing different moves with my arms and legs.

It was a ton of fun though and I laughed at how ridiculous we looked and sounded. I especially liked it when I saw Lucy laugh or smile, she always looks better smiling.

As I pass by the living room, I can't help but notice how clean it is. It's as if no one's been here at all.

When I climb up the stairs I give a final farewell to the bottom floor for the night because I'll be stuck in Lucy room for the rest of the evening, I mean it's 11 and I'm sure Lucy's dad will be home soon.

By the time I make it to Lucy's room, I stop at the door way and lean against the door frame as I watch Lucy with her back to me, humming to herself, finishing putting two pillows on the floor next to her bed.

On the floor, I can see two pillows and a blanket under the window next to her bed.

Not realizing I'm watch her from the door way, Lucy looks down at the pillows and then bends down and fluffs them. Straightening back up, she nods affirmation to herself.

A fond smile graces my lips as I watch her. I clear my throat to alert her of my presence.

Lucy turns around to see me stand by the door. Her face quickly shines with a smile when she sees me. "Hey."

"Hi," I reply with a smile of my own.

Looking down at the make-shift bed, Lucy says, "Okay, so I've made your bed and well, you only have one blanket, but it gets cold in my room at night, so I wasn't sure whether I should get you another blanket. I figured I'd wait to ask you if you wanted another one."

Looking down at the 'bed' she's prepared me, I think over the question then reply, "No, I'm sure I'll be fine with the one blanket."

"Okay, well I see you're already in your pajamas."

"Yeah, I changed into them before doing the dishes."

"In that case, I'm going to go change into mine, you can just get comfortable on the floor, I'll be back in a sec." And with that said, Lucy leaves to get changed.

Doing as I’m told, I make my way over to the make-shift bed and lay down.

Sighing to myself, I stretch out on the ground and close my eyes, putting my hands behind my head. I can smell Lucy's scent all over the place, on the pillows and blanket; it's faint but still there. The smell relaxes me as I let the scent of rain and flowers lull me to sleep.

I was nearly out when I hear Lucy open the door, entering from the bathroom after changing into her own pajamas.

I look up at her from the ground and can't help but watch her as she makes her way over to the light switch. She's dressed in shorts and a tank top, regular sleepwear but on her it looks really good; especially when I can see her creamy legs.

Then Lucy switches off the lights and makes her way to her bed in the dark, with only the moonlight coming from the window to guide her. Once there, she pulls the blankets on top of herself and sighs as she gets comfortable.

"Goodnight Natsu," Lucy says with sleepiness evident in her voice.

"Night Luce," I say and with that I turn over and begin to fall into the darkness of sleep.

* * *

I'm lying on Lucy's floor awake in the middle of the night. Turning over, I can see the alarm clock Lucy has on her dresser. It reads 2:43 in the morning.

I don't know what woke me up. It was gradual, I guess; I didn't even know I was awake until I started tossing back and forth. It's probably because it's _freezing on the floor_. I should have said yes to that offer for an extra blanket. But it's too late now, Lucy's dad is sure to be home and I couldn't possible wake Lucy up and ask her to get me another blanket.

Looking up from my place on the floor I can see Lucy sleeping comfortably, and probably warmly, on her bed. I can see her breath in a slow, rhythmic pattern, indicating that she's in a deep sleep.

Now that I look at her, I can't help but realize how uncomfortable I am on the hard floor. I've been awake since 2:19 and I still haven't fallen back to sleep. At this rate I'll be up all night.

I sigh and roll over again.

_Shiver_

I turn so I'm lying on my back, looking up at the ceiling. I'm so cold… and uncomfortable… and just tired over all. I just want to go back to sleep, but that doesn't appear to be happening any time soon.

Turning just my head, I look at Lucy again, all snug in her bed. Warm and comfortable.

What if I just sneak into her bed… I won't do anything, I won't even touch her; I'll just get under the blankets until I'm warm and then go back to sleeping on the floor. Yeah, that could work; I'll only stay up there until I'm warm.

But what if Lucy finds out…

 _Shiver_ I think I'll take my chances. I hate the cold, so I'm going up there.

Slowly, so I don't make any noise, I rise to my feet and make my way over to her bed.

I'll wake up early and go back to sleep on the floor before she wakes and it'll be like nothing happened.

I grab her blanket and lift it up so I can get underneath it.

And the moment I do I have to suppress a sigh of pleasure. It's so warm under her blankets thanks to Lucy's body heat. I bring the blankets up to my chin and lay back on one of her pillows.

_MAN, her bed is so comfortable!_

The moment my head hits her pillow I can feel sleep beckoning me back into its deep clutches and I'm not willing to fight it.

Well that is until Lucy suddenly turns over and is now snuggling up to me. Her arm and hand lay across my chest and she unconsciously snuggles her head into the croak of my neck.

Suddenly I’m not sleepy anymore.

As she wraps herself more onto me, I have no idea what I should do. I pick up the arm she has on my chest and try to move it, but when I release it she just puts it back on my chest.

 _…Sigh_ I've tried moving her three times and she still won't budge. Silently, I except my fate and leave her as she is. Besides it's not that bad, I mean she's warm and smells good.

But… What do I do with my hands?!

I have no idea where I should put them! Should I hold her too, or should I just put my arms to my sides?

However, before I can make a decision Lucy moves again and now her backs to me. A little relieved I look at Lucy's peaceful sleeping face and can't help but smile and relax a bit; she's so adorable.

Turning on my side so that I'm now facing Lucy's back, I reach out to lay my arm across Lucy's sleeping form hesitantly before pulling her into me and Lucy responds by unconsciously snuggling into my chest.

As I lay here I can't help but notice how warm and soft Lucy is when I wrap my arms around her waist. I look at Lucy who's sleeping peacefully unaware of everything that's happen and I can't help but think about how different it is with her compared to Lisanna.

Never have I held Lisanna like this, not even after sex. Come to think of it, I don't think I've ever been with a girl and cuddled like this before. This is new to me and I like it. I like being with Lucy like this.

Hugging Lucy tightly, I can't help but whisper, "I've never done this with Lisanna before… I like it when you're the only one I do this with."

And with that said, I slowly drift off to a peaceful sleep.


	13. Last Night Together

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The weekend long sleepover comes to an end

_Lucy's POV_

Hmmm…. It's so warm and comfy in my bed. I _really_ don't want to get up. And I had such a peaceful sleep. Now that I think about it, I haven't had such a peaceful sleep in a long time.

Despite my silent protests and longing for sleep to brag me back into her deep slumber, I slowly open my eyes.

It's bright in my room from the sun's rays pooling through my window. I blink sleepily and inhale a deep breath. I smell the scent of burning wood mixed with fresh air and can't help but smile.

Hmmm, I love this smell, it smells just like Natsu… WAIT! Why's it smell like Natsu?!

My eyes fly open and I suddenly become aware that I'm not resting my head on a pillow, but in fact on Natsu's CHEST! HIS BARE CHEST!

Why the Hell doesn't he have a shirt on!? And why's he in my BED!

When did he- How didn't I- What's going on?!

I'm tense in my spot laying in my bed; I don't try to move in case he wakes up and discovers our compromising position.

I become acutely aware of the fact that while my head is lying on his BARE chest, one of his arms is wrapped under my body holding me to him. The other one is hold my arm that's wrapped around him. When did I start to cuddle him?

I can feel his chin resting on the top of my head and hear his small even breaths that indicate he's still asleep.

When did he get into my bed?!

Ever so slowly I turn my head so that I'm staring up at Natsu's sleeping face.

I can't help but stare at him. His eyes are closed of course, with his mouth parted slightly. His soft, pink hair falls at odd angles on his head, but they're illuminated by the sun coming through the window and it makes his strange hair color that much more alluring.

The more I look at his face, I can't help but remember that old saying, the one about how when a person sleeps they look 10 years younger than they are. But the more I look at Natsu the less this saying holds true. He doesn't look any younger, there's still that handsome face of his, you can still see the years of wear and tear that he's been through. He looks more peaceful though, relaxed, happy even.

His chest raises and falls rhythmically as I look deeper into his face. During the day I can always find some kind of emotion on his face, but here his face muscles are completely relaxed and he just looks that much more wonderful. I can't help but smile at what I see.

I can feel the heat radiating off his body and heating the bed from under the blankets. I turn my head back to its original place and sigh contently. If we can stay like this for a while, I will be happy.

Though I haven't said anything, I'm worried about what's going to happen when we go back to school tomorrow… Will it be another repeat of what happened last week? Will Natsu act like he doesn't even know me? What will happen with Lisanna, will they get back together like they always do?

At that thought, I frown. I don't like that, Natsu's my friend and I don't want to see him get hurt and that's what will happen if he gets back together with Lisanna. That relationship is poisonous.

Natsu should be with someone who will appreciate him, someone he can have fun with, someone who he can have sleepovers with all the time, someone he can share his secrets and problems, someone who can cheer him up, someone like… sigh well not like me, we're just friends and I don't have feelings for him… And even if I did, I doubt he has any for me, I mean I'm just some geek and here he is the most popular guy in school, he can have whoever he picks. And I highly doubt he'd pick me.

Suddenly Natsu sighs and pulls me in closer to his chest and takes a deep breath. Once he stops moving I chance a glance up at his face and see that he's still sleeping. Smiling, I push all thoughts of school away; I'm going to soak in this moment right now.

He's so warm, and smells so nice. I snuggle my head deeper into his chest; his tan body contrasts against my fair one and I can't help but take my hand that's lying on his stomach and trace small circles on his abdomen, feeling the tight muscles that lay underneath the skin there.

With my head resting on his chest I can hear his stead heartbeat; the rhythm is healthy and soothing and I find myself humming to myself as I settle into his body and close my eyes contently. It's like our bodies were made to fit into each other's perfectly.

Suddenly Natsu starts to move underneath me and my eyelids shoot up for a second time that morning.

"Hmmm." I look up to see Natsu's eyes squinting open from the light coming into the room and he starts to move. Then as if just realizing something's on top of him, he stops and looks down at me then smiles. "Morning Luce," he purrs, sleepiness still lacing his voice.

Looking up at his smug face and relaxed body language, I can't help but become beat red. How can he act so relaxed when we're sharing the same bed, and I'm basically lying on top of him! AND HE'S HALF NAKED!

I sit up slowly and I can see Natsu's face contort into a frown from the absence of my body heat next to him. Looking down at him, I say very calmly, "Natsu, what are you doing in my bed?"

Still lying down, Natsu props himself up on his elbows to look at me.

"Oh, well you see," subconsciously he begins to rub the back of his neck like he always does when he gets nervous. "I was getting cold on the floor, you were right by the way your floor gets freezing at night, so I decided to just sleep in your bed with you. I'm sure you wouldn't mind, it was either that or freeze to death on the floor."

Nodding my head slowly, I say, "Ok. And where's your shirt?"

Natsu then looks down at himself as if he just remembered he was bare chested, and quickly turns his head to look at the floor where his shirt lay formless.

"Oh, yeah, well last night when we were sleeping together," at this my face turns an even dark shade of red, if that's even possible, but Natsu continues on as if not really processing the thing he just said, "I got really hot, so I just took off my shirt and through it on the ground."

“Why didn’t you just go back onto the floor?!” I nearly screech. I take in a couple of breaths to try and calm myself down before I kill this idiot. 

“Well I would have, but you were all over me. Every time I tried to move you would just grab onto me and would let go.”

I can feel my anger rise. This, this IDIOT!

As if everything is explained he goes to lay back down with his hands behind his head.

"Natsu…" I say slowly, trying to stay calm.

"Hmmm?" Natsu says in reply, cracking open an eyelid.

Before he could do anything, I shove him off my bed, "WOULD YOU GET OFF MY BED!" I yell. He goes down easily taking half the blankets with him.

With him now lying on the floor I dust off my hands nodding to myself.

Geez, really though, this boy is so pig-headed sometime. I push away the thoughts I had earlier while he was sleeping, that'll be my own little secret.

Suddenly I felt the ground underneath me shift. Looking down I see the other half of the blankets that Natsu didn't drag with him were, in fact, under me.

With an ‘Eepp’ I fall and land on top of Natsu.

With both of us now on the ground we start to groan, that hurt. I slowly turn over off Natsu so that both our backs are on the floor and our heads are close to each other.

Still groaning we turn our heads to look at each other and start to laugh. I can't help but laugh at just how ridiculous that whole thing was and hearing Natsu laugh makes me laugh even harder.

As our laughter dies down, we end up looking at each other and I can't help but smile at him. Who knew I could have so much fun with him. Slowly, I see his hand move towards my face. Once there he reaches over and takes a strand of my hair that's fallen in front of my eyes and moves it behind my ear, running his thumb over my hair a couple of times before pulling away.

"Thanks," I say to him even though, I had barely even noticed the hair. Again, I can feel my face begin to warm.

His only reply is a small, "Hmmm." Then he turns his head to look up at my ceiling and I follow suit. So, we just lay here, next to each other staring up at the ceiling as the sun rises further into the sky and making my room brighter.

After about 8 minutes of comfortable silence, Natsu sits up and says, "Well I'm hungry. You?"

Smiling, I also sit up and reply, "I could eat."

"Good," Natsu says as he gets up and stretches, showing off his muscles nicely. Then he reaches his hand down to help me up and I take it. I never realized just how large Natsu's hands are until just now. But they’re warm and it feels nice.

Unknowingly he pulls me towards the door with our hands still interlocked. "Come on then, let's go eat."

However, I stop him before he swings the door open, "Wait Natsu."

"What is it?"

"Well, don't you think I should go first and make sure my dad's not still here?"

Scratching his head, Natsu says, "Oh, yeah. I forgot he was here."

Smiling while I shake my head, I take my hand away from Natsu's and take the door handle in my hand, swinging it open. But before I leave, I take a quick glance behind me to see Natsu frowning at the hand he was using to hold mine. I wonder why he looks disappointed.

Before I could think any further though, I shake it off and close the door heading to the stairs.

By the time I got downstairs, the house appears to be empty. But I look for a note just in case, dad usually leaves a note.

In the kitchen, I see a small piece of paper on the counter and grab it.

_Lucy,_

_I had to leave for an early meeting at the company. You can eat without me. I won't be home for the next couple of days, since I got back early from my trip and I'm leaving for the Japanese firm. Don't burn the house down._

_-Jude_

_Sigh_ typical dad, always leaving and running around. I don't think I've actually seen him in about a month; though he's usually home every other weekend.

I start to turn around, calling, "Nats-!" But I'm cut short when I walk into someone's hard chest.

Taking a step back, I look up at Natsu and say a little irritated, "Natsu! What are you doing I told you to stay upstairs till I made sure my dad was gone."

I can practically feel the vein popping out of my head at my frustration with him.

"I got bored." He simply says smiling that toothy grin of his.

Rolling my eyes, but smiling back, I say, "That's so churlish. Come on let's make breakfast."

* * *

 _Sigh_ My eyebrows furry together and a frown stretches across my face. Me and Natsu have been watching a Lord of the Rings marathon and we're at the end of the Two Towers.

But I haven't been able to concentrate on the actual movie since it started!

I've tried, oh trust me, I've tried. But my mind keeps wondering back to school.

And Natsu.

And what tomorrow is going to be like.

…man, I can't believe we go back to school tomorrow. It feels like the weekend just flew by. Why can't we go back to that Friday night when Natsu was standing on my porch asking if he could come in.

It's funny really, hilarious even, when I think about how just a week ago we hated each other. I thought he was just some jock with a hot girlfriend, and a hot head to match. But then everything changed when we were assigned this project together. Which I should really thank Mr. Dreyar for putting us together. Not only does our now finished project look amazing -a sure A- but Natsu and I got close. I learned so much about this boy; I saw so many new sides to him, new faces that I never got to see at school. And we became friends… maybe even something more, I cough _._ What am I thinking. I can feel my face grow warm from the thought.

I turn my attention back to the film and watch as giant trees throw rocks at a lone tower in the middle of a field.

After a few seconds though, my mind starts to wonder again.

How will Natsu act when we get back to school and he's in front of everyone?

What about the party? Will people still talk about it? Is Natsu ready to face them?

What about Lisanna? Will she try to get back together with Natsu like usual? …And if she does what will Natsu do?

At that thought my frown deepens and my eyes move from the screen over to the person next to me.

Natsu is watching the screen intently, he's never actually seen the movies, can you believe that?

By the look on his face, though, he appears to be enjoying them.

This is our last night together. The last night Natsu will be staying here with me. After tonight it's be back to an empty house and lone dinners. And what about Natsu, is he ready to go back to his foster house? I wish we could just stay like this for a while longer.

Natsu's eating popcorn loudly and he begins to laugh and pump his fist in the air, yelling, "Yeah! You go trees! Hahaha, look Luce, the trees beat that wizard!" He turns to me pointing at the screen and smiling.

I can't help but smile at that happy face I've grown so fond of. "Yeah, this is always my favorite part in the movies."

So why can't I pay attention!

Out of the corner of my eye I can see it's dark outside. I glance up at the clock and see it's about 7.

Once we finish the last movie, it'll be 10, then it'll be time for bed… and school in the morning.

_Sigh_

"Ok, what's wrong with you?" Natsu asks, turning to me.

"Huh?" I say confused.

"You've been sighing all night, and I figured I'd wait until you were ready to tell me whatever it is that's wrong. But since you haven't said anything, I guess I have to ask. So, what's wrong?"

I don't say anything, but just look at him with furrowed eyebrows.

"You can tell me, you can always tell me anything. So, don't worry about being embarrassed or something." Natsu says, turning to me fully.

I nod my head slightly, I'm glad he said that. Taking a deep breath, I open my mouth and begin, "I'm just worried… worried might not be the right word. Maybe scared? Anxious? I don't know, but… what's going to happen? What's it going to be like at school tomorrow?"

Looking away from him I continue in a quieter voice, "I know, I may be over thinking this but-"

"I understand." Natsu says, cutting me off, "I've thought the same thing...

"And I don't know what will happen tomorrow, I really don't." It's silent for a second before he continues, "But I do know I don't want this to stop." Under his breath I can barely hear him say, "Whatever this is." However, before I can really process what he just said, he says louder, "But I want to continue this, you and me. Our friendship."

What he says brings a warm smile to my face, "Yeah."

He just smiles back with a small, confident smile.

The only thing that can be heard is the credit's song playing over the speakers.

"Well than, shall we put on the last Lord of the Rings movie?" I say after about a minute of silence between the two of us. And Natsu's grin grows wider as he yells, "Hell Yeah!"

With the movie on and Natsu back to eating his popcorn loudly, I can't help but smile contently.

Natsu always seems to know the right words to say to comfort me.

And he's right, things are different now. We have each other and that won't change just because we go back to school. And there's no need in worrying about something that I won't be able to change. I'll worry about a problem when it pops up, not _if_ it does or before there really _is_ a problem to face.

With that thought, I scoot closer to Natsu, grab a hand-full of popcorn and settle back into the couch, looking up at the screen to see Legolas and Gimli arguing.


	14. At His House

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Natsu brings Lucy back to his house

_Natsu's POV_

Ahh Wednesday it feels like it's been forever since I've seen this place, I can't help think as I walk down the hallway and stop to get a drink at the water fountain. It's nearly noon and most people are scrambling to get to the lunch room so they can beat the lunch line rush.

As for me, I'm just waiting to meet Lucy in front of the library before heading to lunch ourselves. We turned in our project this morning and with that our partnership came to an end. Well, in terms of the project. There was no way I was just going to stop being around Lucy.

Ever since we told each other about our pasts on Sunday I can't help but smile when I'm with her. I mean she's the only one I feel I can be myself around, and I haven't felt that way in a very long time.

She helps centers me. Which is something I need when my world is so dizzying. I know there's something between us… I just don't know what that something is… at least not yet.

Mr. Dreyar told us that the projects will be graded by Monday and I’m so nervous. I **have** to get a good grade on this, otherwise I fail and I don't think I can spend another year here or I might just suffocate.

Luckily Lucy was there to reassure me that the project was good; it's like she knows just the right words to say to me. How come it took me so long to see it?

That's when I notice the faint sound of footsteps behind me. Wearing a wide grin, I turn around to look at Lucy.

But what I see isn't the girl I was with all weekend, but instead Lisanna stood in front of me wearing a sweet grin of her own.

"Hi pumpkin," she says in a high-pitched voice and kisses me on the lips before I can register what's happening.

My eyes grow wide when I feel her lips move against mine and her body pressing into me. Getting my senses back, I push her away and shake my head.

"What do you think you're doing?" I say, a mix of anger and confusion lacing my voice.

Looking confused, Lisanna says, "What? I'm just kissing my boyfriend."

"We broke up remember," I tell her coldly.

"Oh honey, what happened was nothing. Just a little spat. I still love you, even if you were over-reacting."

"Yeah, well maybe you should have thought about that before you went and screwed my best friend." I say still holding that cold tone, as I begin to walk away.

"Where do you think you're going!? Don't walk away from me! Do you think I wanted you to act like that, it was embarrassing for me you know," Lisanna says losing her sweet exterior.

"Embarrassing for you!? Have you seen the posts online! Of course you have, last I checked _you_ were the one who posted them!"

A little shocked, Lisanna regains her cool and smiles again, "Well. That's all in the past. And I'm ready to make it up to you, let's say my house. You can spend the night and I'll show you just how much this relationship means to me. We can do anything you like," she says biting her lip and looking me up and down with a seductive gleam in her eyes.

A week ago, I would have jumped at the opportunity, I mean Lisanna is hot, but now the thought only makes me sick to my stomach.

"No Lisanna. I don't want that. And I don't want to be your boyfriend anymore. We're through, for real this time."

"What are you talking about? We're never just _through_. We rule this school; I'm the queen and you're the king. We always get back together! No matter what."

"Well, not this time Lisanna. We are done."

Lisanna looks mad and confused as she stares at the floor before saying, "Nobody ever says no to me."

Before I can say anything to that I see Lucy coming towards us from behind Lisanna's shoulder.

"Hey, Natsu," Lucy calls from a couple of feet away. "Sorry it took me so long, Levy needed help with-" She stops mid-sentence when she sees Lisanna standing in front of me.

It's silent as the three of us stare at each other. Lisanna's glare goes from me to Lucy and back again.

"What the hell is this? You left me for Dirty Poor?"

"It's not like that, we're not-"Lucy begins to explain, but before she can say another word Lisanna cuts her off.

"Oh, shut your mouth you little whore. I bet you _did_ sleep with Natsu the 'popular guy' just so he would give you some attention because that's what you wanted so desperately."

"You are out of line Lisanna. Watch what you say, Luce is my friend and I won't stand by and listen to you talk to her like that."

"Oh, so it's _Luce_ now, is it? Don't forget Natsu, it wasn't too long ago that you also called this sorry excuse of space names." Lisanna says turning her attention back to me.

"Sorry to be the one to tell you this Lisanna, but I'm not the whore here. You are; or was it not true that you were sleeping with two guys at once? And though everyone might think Natsu is pathetic, at least they won't think him dishonest or a slut. Good luck trying to find a guy who won't mind being with you after learning you like to keep a 'variety' of guys to occupy your time."

The look on Lisanna's face couldn't even begin to be described as furious. She was boiling. And if I didn't know better, I would have thought Lucy's face would melt off by the glare Lisanna was giving her.

With a clenched jaw and gritted teeth Lisanna says in a very low and dangerous tone, "You'll regret this, you'll both regret this." And with that she walks away, bumping into Lucy's shoulder hard and turning the corner.

"Well, that was intense," I say as me and Lucy stare after Lisanna.

"You can say that again," Lucy breaths out.

When we look at each other, we can't hold it in and we both laugh.

"Ready for lunch?" Lucy asks me.

"You have now idea, let's go Luce," I say smiling and walking by her side towards the lunch room.

* * *

School's nearly out; one more period and school's over. I just need to make it through history. It's just so... boring.

Right now, I'm heading to the bathroom. I always ask to go to the bathroom in that class, it just feels like the longest class of the day. And I'm passing with a C-, so it's fine if I take a 10 minute breather from that suffocating class.

After going into the bathroom and doing my business, I start to wash my hands. When I turn off the tap and shake my hands dry, I look up in the mirror and jump, I swear like 50 feet in the air.

There, standing behind me, is Sorano. She's smiling and staring right at me through the mirror.

I grab my heart and bend at the waist trying to regain my breath and wait for my heart rate to return to its normal pace.

"Damn it Sorano. You scared the living shit out of me." I say a little angry. Jeez couldn't she have knocked or something.

Why is she even in the Men's Room anyway?

 _Sigh_ Whatever. I start towards the door, but I stop when Sorano stands in my way.

 _Sigh_ "What are you doing Sorano?" I ask exasperated.

"So, I heard you and Lisanna are officially done. For real this time. Everyone in the school is talking about it," She says sweetly. I look at her skeptically, she's acting nicer than I've ever seen her.

"Yeah. What about it."

"Well if you two are over that means you're up for grabs, and I thought maybe we could have a go at it. I mean, we'd look really good together, and I'll do anything you want. If you know what I mean," Sorano explains, winking with a smirk on her face as she loops her arms around my neck and rubs her leg on mine.

If I thought what Lisanna said earlier turned my stomach, it was nothing compared to this. I can't believe someone who claims to be Lisanna's friend would go after her ex-boyfriend of only a few days. Why would anyone do that to they're friend. It's revolting.

Looking her dead in the eye with disgust plain to see on my face, I tell Sorano as I remove her arms from my neck and take a step away from her, "I think I'd rather take my chances with a shark than with someone like you." And with that I push past her.

"Who do you think will want to be with you?! If it's not me, your reputation will only drop! This is your last chance! Who could be better than me or Lisanna?" Sorano yells after me.

As I continue to walk down the hallway, I turn around and yell back, "Who says I have to be with anybody? I'll choose what I do from here; screw anyone who tells me otherwise."

When I say this, I can see Sorano's mouth fall open as she stands by the Men's Room entrance, dumbfounded.

Smiling to myself, I turn back around and walk towards my history class with a new spring in my step.

* * *

_Lucy's POV_

Gosh how long is Natsu going to take!?

I've been waiting outside for him since the bell rang, which was 10 minutes ago. How long does it take for someone to get their books and come outside?

Then again, Natsu doesn't know I'm waiting for him.

The day had gone quite smoothly actually. The only time anything major happened was that incident with Lisanna outside of the library. Which still worries me, but what can I do now.

Me and Natsu had lunch together which was great. As I think of the memory, a smile comes to my face. It was just like when we were hanging out at my house. We talked and joked around, Levy even had lunch with us and I think she likes him. Which is good, I would want my friends to get along.

And Natsu was nice towards her too; he also apologized for all the times he's picked on her. She forgave him and told him how she was sorry for what happened at that party. She saw what had happened on the internet a couple nights ago.

And for the first time in a long while, I really enjoyed lunch. I'm not saying I didn't have fun when it was just me and Levy; it's just that with Natsu I felt carefree like I could really just let go and forget about our surroundings.

For the first time I was with the only two people I really care about and who knows everything about me, not just the façade everyone else sees.

"Hey Luce!" I hear, causing me to jump a little when I get pulled out of my trance. There, standing in front of me, is Natsu.

"Were you waiting for me? Why?" He asks me, cocking his head to the side, confused.

Beaming up at him, I say, "I'm going to help you study for your classes."

Hearing that, Natsu groans. "I just got out of that hell hole and you want me to continue it longer?"

"Come on. I'll help you learn your material so that you can bring your grades up."

He just looks at me skeptically. "Come on," I say pulling his arm away from the school and towards the sidewalk.

"Ok, so do you want to go to my house or the library?" I ask him when we're about a block away from the school.

"Actually, can we do this at my house? It's just that I haven't been home all weekend and, though your dad's old clothes are great, I'd much rather be in my own room than an old library or your house. Plus I should probably check up on my little sister."

A little surprised, all I can say is, "Okay, lead the way."

After about 15 minutes we stop in front of a two-story house. It's a bit run down with chipped paint and worn wood. The grass is overgrown and yellow with a ton of toys in the yard. As we walk up to the front door we hear a loud crash and then someone yelling followed by the sound of feet running.

I can't help the little giggle that escapes my mouth as Natsu sighs. It's so different compared to my house. When we walk through the front door, my mouth falls open a little in surprise.

There are so many kids running around and playing. It's _so_ different compared to my quiet house. I knew Natsu said his place was crazy but it didn't hit me until just now.

Before we can make it any further than the front entrance, something flashes and the next thing I know there's a blue cat jumping into my arms, quickly followed by three kids no older than 10 who are chasing the poor thing.

However, they stop dead in their tracks when they see Natsu and I. I look over and see Natsu shooting the kids a glare before they run off screaming things like 'We're sorry!' and 'We just wanted to play with him!'

When I look back to the cat in my hands, it's shaking.

"Poor thing," I say as I stroke his blue fur. "What's his name?"

"That's Happy, the kids here like to pick on him because he has the blue fur." Natsu says as he pets the purring cat under the chin.

"I was actually wondering about that, _why_ is he blue?" Lucy asks Natsu as he leads them towards the stairs.

"Well, you see, when Happy was just a kitten I... uh kinda dyed his fur blue for fun, you know just to see how it would look. And, well, Happy's fur never returned to its original color after that," Natsu explains as they finally reach the stairs. "I think it suits him," I say dodging some kids running down the stairs.

By the time we make it to the top of the stairs I see at least ten more kids running around in the cramped hallway. If I thought the downstairs was crazy, up here is even more so. I never realized just how many kids lived here until now. It would be extremely difficult to get any privacy here. How can Natsu deal with all this craziness every day?

"Gajeel! Come on, quit hogging the bathtub, I need to give Charlie a bath too!" Someone says from a few doors away from me and Natsu. The voice was high and obviously belonged to a young girl. The voice sounds familiar, but I can't seem to place where I've heard it before.

"I'm almost down shorty; you don't have to flip out. Pantherlily just won't hold still," this time a gruff, low voice answers the one from before, which I'm assuming is this Gajeel guy.

Stopping when we reach the door I see a guy about the same age as me and Natsu kneeling over a bathtub with a black cat soaking wet in it. Next to him was a short girl with blue hair holding a white cat with a pink bow on its ear.

When I see the girl my mouth hangs open, she's the girl from the park I met last week. Ahh what was her name again?

While I try to remember the girl's name Happy jumps out of my arms and runs over to the white cat who also jumps down from its owner's arms.

Turning to me, Natsu says, "That's Gajeel and his cat Pantherlily; they've been here as long as I have. And this is Wendy; she's practically my baby sister. The cat by her feet is Charlie…"

That's what it was! Wendy! Now I remember.

If I recall correctly she helped me with my problem involving Natsu. And I helped her with the problem relating to her brother… I gasp a little when the dots finally connect.

"…Hey guys this is Lucy," Natsu finishes as the two by the tub finally notices me and Natsu at the door.

As soon as Wendy sees me a huge grin splits her face as she says, "Hey it's you Grandma!"

"Hey Ms. 'It's only 6:15'!" I say smiling as the girl hugs me.

Natsu looks between us, confusion all over his face and Gajeel is still sitting on the floor with a look of boredom.

"How do you two know each other?" Natsu asks a little skeptical.

"We met at the park last week," Wendy answers. "How did the problem with that guy turn out?" She asks turning to me.

I just smile and glance at Natsu. When Wendy catches on she bursts out laughing. "You've got to be kidding! So, he was your boy trouble HAHAHA, he was mine." When she says this, I can't help but laugh too, who would have guessed when we met we were both upset about the same guy!

"He's really a handful isn't he," I say as our laughing turns into giggling.

"No kidding!" She agrees, "But he's our handful."

When we turn to look at Natsu he's pouting, not liking the fact that he's been left out of the joke. Me and Wendy just burst out laughing again when we see his face.

"Quit acting like a girl Dragneel," Gajeel says with a huff.

"What did you say Redfox!" Natsu counters, and with that the two begin to fight.

As I watch the two I whisper to Wendy, "Are they always like this?"

"Most of the time, yeah," she tells me unfazed, "though they won't admit it, they're pretty close. I mean they've been here the longest and they are the oldest out of all of us here."

As I watch the two of them I can't help but feel a little sad. I wish I had someone like that. A person who's basically a sibling to you, someone you can fight, someone who drives you crazy, and who gets on your nerves but you know at the end of the day that you love each other no matter what.

"They're at it again, huh?" me and Wendy turn around at the sound of a new voice. There in the doorway is a boy no older than 14 with short black hair.

"Hi, I'm Romeo," the boy says reaching his hand out to me. A little surprised I shake his hand, "Lucy."

"You a friend of Natsu's? Hey Wendy," Romeo smiles at said girl and I swear I see the girl blush before she replies to the guy. "Hi Romeo."

The two of them just stare at each other, smiling. Ahh young love it’s so cute, they're like puppies; it's so adorable.

I smile at Wendy knowingly, before answering Romeo's question, "Yeah, I'm one of his friends from school."

"Really? I've never met one of his friends from school. Actually, I've never met any of his friends, well except for Grey, but everyone knows Grey," Romeo rambles on absentmindedly.

As if sensing we're talking about him, Natsu appears behind me and Wendy and says, "What are you guys talking about?"

"Nothing, I was just about to ask Wendy if she wanted to play with me," Romeo replies.

"Yeah, I'd—" Wendy begins to say but is cut off by Natsu, "What are you guys going to play? Is it just going to be the two of you?"

Blushing a little, Romeo looks down at the floor before replying, "Umm yeah, we were going to play Guild. Me and Wendy would be on a team or 'guild' and we'd fight monsters along with the other guilds, like Chelia and Sherry is a team."

"Hmmm, and you want Wendy to be on your team? Why?" Natsu asks glaring at the kid. Of course he knows why the kid wants Wendy on his team otherwise he wouldn't be glaring at the poor kid like that. Poor Romeo, he’s got some rough waters ahead of him if he really does want to date Wendy with Natsu being as overprotective as he is over his little sister.

"Actually, me and Natsu have to go study, so I think that sounds like a wonderful idea, have fun guys," I say as I push Natsu out of the doorway.

"What was that for," Natsu asks in a whispered voice when we're out of earshot.

"What are you talking about? It's obvious that he likes her and that she likes him, why were you getting in the way?" I shot back at him also whispering.

"Exactly! He likes her and I don't like that. Wendy's only 12!"

"Oh, come on Natsu, it's not like they're going off to have sex," at this Natsu sputters, "Besides that Romeo guy seems nice and polite. You should cut him some slack."

Natsu just crosses his arms and huffs, walking toward the end of the hall mumbling about guilds and monsters.

When we reach the end of the hall, Natsu turns to the door on the right and turns the handle.

When I enter his room I'm instantly met with a smell that is so distinctly Natsu. It's overwhelming and makes me a little lightheaded. I take a deep breath. Burning wood, it's so soothing and makes me relax.

Taking a quick look around I can see that his room is a little messy… ok well a lot messy, but it's mainly just clothes that's thrown all over the floor. I can see jeans, t-shirts, and oh god, are those _boxers_ on the floor?!

I quickly avert my eyes and look anywhere but there, blushing a little. He has a window that sees out into an alley by the house. His bed isn't made, but it’s plain to see nobody's slept in it for a couple of days. Next to it he has a small nightstand with two draws, the top one was slightly open. He has a small wooden desk in the corner with a lamp on it. There are school books piled on top of the desk with some papers scattered across it. His closet is wide open with a few clothes hanging in it and some posters plastered the white walls.

"Cozy," I say as I continue staring at the different posters. They look to be of different bands.

"Yeah, just make yourself at home. I'm going to go change into my own clothes, I'll be right back." With that Natsu grabs some clothes off the ground that look clean enough and proceeds to leave his room, probably to go change in the bathroom or something.

Really that boy, he has perfectly clean clothes hanging in his closet why doesn't he grab one of those?

Not sure what else to do, I walk over and sit on his bed. I look at the nightstand and I can see there's a picture of a young Natsu who looks like he's arguing with a boy the same age as him, but the other boy has dark hair and is shirtless. Behind them is a girl with red hair who looks older than the two boys, it's obvious she was yelling at them to knock it off. I smile; Natsu looks so young and innocent, even if he's fighting in the photo. I can also see a very young Wendy holding her cat while watching the exchange between the three.

Taking my eyes off the photo, I look down to the open drawer. The first thing I see confuses me, there's a scarf stuffed into the drawer. It's white, but has this sort of quality to it that makes it look almost scaly. I reach out to touch it, it looks soft-

"WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!" Natsu yells. I jump off the bed like it had burned me, pulling my hand away from the object and holding it close to my chest. I look at Natsu, surprised and a little scared from the way he screamed at me; reminding me of how my dad used to yell.

"I- I was just… uh… sorry," I finish lamely, shaking my head.

As if realizing that he had startled me, he sighs and walked over to me. "Hey, I'm sorry I yelled, ok?" He says softly. All I can do is nod.

Natsu then pulls me into a hug and apologizes again.

With his arms wrapped around my shoulders, my face is buried in the crook of his neck and I can smell burning wood again and slowly I wrap my arms around him. My muscles relax and I sigh into his chest.

After a second or two we pull away just enough so that I can see his face, and when I look up at Natsu he's grinning that signature smile of his, making me feel safe and protected in his arms.

That's when I finally notice just how much space there is between us, or rather lack thereof. Gulping I pull away and turn around blushing so hard I can feel the heat radiating off my cheeks.

"So, um, do you want to tell me what that was about?" I finally ask him when I have the nerve to turn back around.

Natsu just looks down and rubs the back of his head like he usually does when he gets nervous. God, he is so hot! And he smells so nice! And the way he was holding me with those masculine arms…

LUCY! STOP THAT! I can feel the blush return, but this time it's not as fierce.

"Uhh…"

Looking at him I can tell whatever is going on, it's hard for him to talk about, so I mumble softly, "If you don't want to tell me, that's fine. I don't want to make you tell me anything you don't want me to know. We can just start on the-"

"It was my dad's."

It's silent between us while the new information sinks in. His dad's scarf, like his biological dad, the one that left him at the orphanage?

I'm not sure what to say, but Natsu beats me to it by continuing his explanation, "I've always had it, ever since I came here. It's the only thing I have left of him. And it's… very precious to me. I like to keep it close so that I don't lose it or get it dirty… I used to wear it all the time. Every day, actually. I’d even wear it during the summer… I stopped when I got into high school."

“What made you stop wearing it?” I ask him quietly.

“Lisanna thought it looked stupid wearing the same scarf every day. She said it made me look poor and that wearing it was ruining my reputation which in turn ruined hers. We had a huge fight over it halfway through our first year together. She told me I had to get rid of it and I told her no. We broke up for three weeks because of it.”

I remember that, it was the longest they had been apart since they got together and everyone was wondering if they were really through. Nobody actually knew what the fight was about, but there were rumors that a past lover was trying to separate the two. When they eventually did get back together the NaLi fans gushed about how nothing could break them apart and that they’re love was as strong as ever.

And now that he mentions it, I do vaguely remember him wearing a white scarf to school everyday our freshman year. But one day he just stopped, was it really because Lisanna made him get rid of his dad’s scarf. 

When Natsu continues, his tone is hallow and his face is blank, “When we started dating again, we made a compromise. I wouldn’t have to throw away my scarf, but she wouldn’t have to see me wearing it ever again.”

I look at Natsu when he's done talking; he looks so vulnerable right now. His eyes are averted to the floor and he has a pained look on his face. It makes me sad seeing him like this. He's usually so full of life and energetic.

I walk over to him and put my hand under his chin and force his face to look into mine. I smile weakly up at him and say, "I'm sure your father would be very happy to hear you've kept it this whole time. Even if you don’t wear it every single day."

Looking into my brown eyes a small smile graces his lips. Even though his face looks sad, I can still see a fire burning bright in the dark pools of his eyes. The longer I look into them the deeper they go; it's like they're filled with black liquid, swirling and rolling. They're so enticing and intense.

Clearing his throat, Natsu takes a step back and looks away from me.

Oh god, was I staring?! Oh shit! I hope Natsu didn't notice!

 _Cough_ "So um who are these people?" I ask trying to change the subject as I grab the picture from the nightstand.

Turning towards me, Natsu sees the photo in my hand and a grin flashes on his face. Taking the photo out of my hand, he says pointing at the dark-haired boy, "That pain in the ass is Grey. He used to live here a few years ago before he was adopted. We used to get in fights all the time; damn stripper thought he could beat me in a fight."

I laugh at him as he continues now pointing at the girl with red hair, "And this is Erza. She was always breaking up mine and Grey's fights, usually hitting us while doing so." As he says this he rubs the back of his head like he can still feel the place she would whack him. "She was like a big sister to me. She was adopted years ago when she was 12. The family that took her moved away so I don't see her often, but we do write to each other sometimes. She's in college now."

"That's sweet," I say as I look at the photo again. Natsu does look happy in the photo, lighter even as if the world hadn't crushed him yet.

I look over at Natsu who is still smiling at the fond memory the photo brought him. I smile at the way his face lights up as if someone placed a candle right in front of him, illuminating his face. I love it when he looks like this, peaceful and happy.

Wait. I'm staring again. Seriously Lucy what has gotten into you today?

Shaking my head, I walk away from Natsu and grab the books off his desk. "Ok, which subject do you want to start on first?" I ask him, pulling him out of his daydream.

Natsu groans _,_ "Ahhh come on Luce, do we have to?"

"It won't be that bad, come on let's get started," I say scolding him, moving to sit on the bed I drag Natsu down to sit as well.

"Ok let's start on science, I heard you have a test in that class tomorrow."

I can hear Natsu groan again before he whines _,_ "Fine, teach away Ms. Heartfilia."


	15. Lisanna's Payback

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lisanna enlists Sting to get back at Lucy for stealing her boyfriend

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warning: This chapter contains non-consent touching. Nothing to serious, but I will add a warning symbol before and after the act is committed for those who do not wish to read it. You can skip over the section and still understand what is going on later in the story.  
> I'll post a quick summary of what you need to know for the coming chapters in the notes at the end of the story.

_Lisanna POV_

God it's too early to be at school. There is literally no one here! Whatever, I don't really care. What I need to do, or rather who I need to see is why I'm here at this ungodly hour.

I'm pissed and you won't like me when I'm pissed, trust me. I've been working on a plan to rip those twos life's apart ever since yesterday when that little bitch and that bastard thought they could embarrass me like that.

When I finally enter the cafeteria the only people I see are a few girls surrounding a table and the janitor. Rolling my eyes, I head toward the table. As I get closer, I can hear the girls’ giggle and then a male's voice say, "Well I've never tried _that_ before… but I'm willing to try." Another round of giggles erupt from the group. Ugh, what a persistent man, always after one thing.

Rolling my eyes, I push some of the girls out of the way so that I can see the person leaning against the table. "Sting!" I yell which causes everyone to go quiet and look at me. The eyes of the girls surrounding Sting grow wide, then, murmuring some excuse, they left, leaving me and Sting alone.

"I see you're still popular with the girls," I say looking down at Sting.

"What can I say, girls like a guy with…" Sting pauses as he looks me up and down slowly before returning his eyes to my face, "experience."

God, sleep with a guy a couple of times and he thinks he's the shit. "I'm sure they do," I say rolling my eyes.

"Hmm," he hums looking at me again with hungry eyes.

I sigh. "Listen, I need you to do something for me," I say, getting annoyed with his continuous gestures.

"What is it you need? Another 'club' meeting? Or maybe this time you need to 'talk' to your 'teacher' after school again. Which is it this time," Sting says winking.

Rolling my eyes, yet again. "No, Sting. I need you to get revenge for me on the slut, Lucy."

Standing up from his leaned position, Sting looks less eager as he says, "That's it? Do it yourself." And he begins to walk away.

He brushes past me, making his way out of the cafeteria. "Sting!" I yell turning around to face him, "you better remember who you're talking to."

Looking back at me, Sting half laughs. "Do you think I need you to get what I want? Ever since word got out about us, girls are falling over themselves to get my attention. They're willing to do _whatever_ I want."

I level a glare at him and my breathing comes hard as I feel the anger build up in me. "How long do you think that will last when I drop you."

Sting just laughs again and turns to leave.

"You'll get at Natsu too," I say.

When Sting hears this, he stops dead in his tracks and I know I've got him. "I know you don't like him. You've always despised him, being stuck in his shadow and all. That's why you always want what he has and _that's_ why we had a thing. I only wanted you for your body because I was bored and well you only wanted me because I was Natsu's."

Even though Sting is facing away from me, I can tell he's angry.

"Oh, did I hit a sore spot?" I can't help but say, "Well, whatever. Do you want to get at Natsu or what?"

After a minute of silence Sting says, "What did you have in mind?"

I smile, "Here's what you're going to do…"

* * *

_Lucy's POV_

It's halfway through the day and the bell just rang letting us out for lunch. I've been excited for lunch all day. I can't help but smile every time I think about… uh, the lunch I've made. I'm sure it'll be delicious.

Ok, who am I kidding, I can't wait to eat lunch with Natsu. He's so funny and childish. But in that lovable kind of way. _And_ he and Levy get along great. The more I talk with him, the more I find myself wanting to be around him.

And lately I can't help but notice his smile and how it just lights up the room. That smile could stop wars. His eyes are sparkling, they pin you down and they're so sharp. Like they can catch everything, see every detail.

And damn, can I just say that man is attractive! His muscles are so defined and like he's just so gorgeous and can we just talk about that hair. The most amazing shade of pink, and it's so soft.

"-ucy!" The noise yanks me back to reality and I can't help the blush that spreads across my cheeks. What on earth was I just thinking; gosh I shouldn't be day dreaming about Natsu.

I shake my head, trying to rattle the thoughts from my head.

"Lucy! Hey, wait up!"

When I hear this, I turn around. I’m surprised to see Sting standing right behind me smiling. Well this is unexpected.

Confused I take a step back. "Oh, ah. Hi Sting. What’s up?"

I wait for Sting to say something, but he just steps closer smirking. Umm, ok this is weird.

"Well, if there isn't anything you need-"

"Actually," Sting interrupts me as he takes a string of my hair and tucks it behind my ear, "I wanted to, uh, talk to you."

 _Gulp_ Too close, too close. I can hear the warning sirens in my head telling me something's off. I try to take another step away from him, but my back hits the lockers.

"Um, ok. What is it you wanted to talk about?" I ask a little spectacle.

Putting one arm on the locker next to my head, Sting leans in and whispers in my ear. "I'd rather talk in private. It’s kind of… personal."

Taking a quick look around I see two other students walking towards the lunch room, looking at the two of us and whispering. Oh brother, I wonder how this is going to circulate around school.

"You know Sting, I'd rather just go to lunch. I'm meeting with some friends, so…" I say pushing past him and heading towards the cafeteria.

Suddenly I feel pressure on my wrist and when I look back at Sting he just smiles a small grin and says, "Please, it won't take long. Just a few minutes… It’s about Natsu." I can hear concern lacing his voice, “It’s important.” And with that he starts to lead me towards a classroom.

Hesitating I nod and follow him.

When we enter the classroom, I see that it's a biology lab. There are several lab tables with sinks built into them. On the side-counters there are different chemicals lined up for the next class. The only light coming into the room came from the windows giving the room a blue-ish glow.

Taking in a deep breath, I turn around to look at Sting who is standing in front of the door.

"So, um, what is it you wanted to talk about Sting? Is Natsu alright?" I ask a little conscious about the fact that I'm in a room alone with a notorious womanizer.

Looking at me, Sting doesn't say anything and starts to walk towards me. By the time he's standing in front of me there's barely an inch between us.

"You know, I heard about you and Natsu. I never knew Natsu was into fat girls like you… Or maybe there's something about you that's got Natsu all riled up."

A little sick to my stomach, I say, "No it's not like that. Me and Natsu, we're just- "

"It got me thinking." Sting says as if he didn't even hear what I said. "If Natsu has the hots for a chick like you, there must be something about you. And, well, I want to find out what that is."

As he says this, he puts his hands on either side of me, trapping me between the lab table and him. _Gulp_ this isn't good.

Leaning into my body, Sting eliminates the space between us and whispers in my ear, "Of course you get the better deal. You get to find out what it's like to be with a real _man_." Then he licks my neck.

Oh, I think I might barf. I bring my hands up to push Sting off me, but he won't budge and continues to kiss me down my neck.

This revolting cretin thinks he can just do whatever he wants, I don't think so.

"Get you're disgusting hands off me!" I yell as I slap him across the face. That seemed to surprise him; I take this moment to maneuver myself out from between him and the table and make for the door.

But before I even make it a couple of steps I feel a sharp pain in my wrist as Sting grabs me. Turning around Sting is closer than I thought he would be and when I look into his eyes my breath catches. I see pure rage. The blood drains from my face and I'm petrified, I can't move.

That's when he starts chuckling, "You know when Lisanna asked me to do this, I thought, 'do I really have to with a fatty like you, Natsu is crazy for even looking at you.' But you know, I told her I'd do it. It wouldn't be that hard, I mean with your reputation I thought you wouldn't even care who it was that you slept with."

Grabbing my other wrist and pinning me against a different table Sting says, "I never would have imagined you'd be so testy. But maybe that's why Natsu likes you, he likes the challenge." And with that he captures my lips with his.

It's hot and hard and I can feel his anger through his lips. I try to squirm but it doesn't help. And suddenly I feel his hands at my waist trailing up my side. Bare skin against bare skin.

 _Gulp_ Help, someone help, help me, I plea silently. I try to get out from between him and the table, but as I start to twist, my button-up shirt gets caught on something. I tug and pull hoping to get loose, all the while Sting presses hot, wet kisses on my neck.

I’m freaking out now, and with one final yank, the buttons that where holding my shirt together pop off. My shirt hangs open revealing my bra and chest. Sting looks down and can't help the surprised look that comes across his face.

"Well, damn Fatty. No wonder Natsu's all over this. You're not really gigantic." His eyes never leave my chest and he licks his lips while saying, "Lucky me."

Now I really am going to vomit. Suddenly Sting takes his shirt off and then turns me around so that my back is against his chest. I swallow as he starts kissing down my neck and his hands pull the shirt off my shoulders.

With my left shoulder bare, I can feel Sting rub his thumb against my scar and a cold shudder runs through me and now I can taste the bile in my mouth and tears prick my eyes.

When Sting touched my scar, he stops and pulls away to look at it. When he sees the ragged scar, Sting looks disgusted.

But the moment passes and he turns me around to face him again. He pushes our bodies together so that we are flush against each other, my bare skin touching his. I can feel his body heat and his muscles moving as our skin makes contact. His member presses against my leg as he gropes my butt.

Now tears are falling from my eyes. Please somebody, anybody help me! Natsu, help. Please make him stop.

* * *

_Natsu's POV_

Man, where's Lucy? We were meant to meet each other ten minutes ago, I slowly make my way down a hallway. When I asked Levy if she'd seen Lucy, she said she hadn't seen her either, but she'd help look for her.

We split up after that. Levy went to Lucy's locker and I went to the class she has before lunch. But no luck, hopefully Levy found her.

That's when I hear it. It’s so quiet I nearly miss it. Stopping I wait to see if I hear it again.

There it was, a small whimper. Where's it coming from? Looking around I don't see anyone in the hallway. There are a couple of classrooms and lockers in the hallway, the closest room is a lab.

Peeking in, I see Sting shirtless with some girl. That's Sting for you, always with a girl getting it on during school. Though usually he's in the janitor's closet.

Taking a closer look, the girl looks familiar. And my heart speeds up at the realization that the girl in there is Lucy.

Oh god, is Lucy really going to sleep with that sleazy bag. Swallowing the bale that raises in my throat, I take a couple of deep breaths. Why do I feel so hurt? It's not like I can tell her who she can and can't be with. I have no claim to her. But still, I thought Lucy was better than _Sting._

The more I see the more I know something isn’t right. There's something off about this whole thing. Lucy wouldn't be with a guy like that, she seems tense. And that's when I see it. Tears streaking her face.

Cold rage hits me like a rock; crashing into me with every breath, making it more intense.

Yanking the door open I hear a gasp that sounded far away, even muffled. But right now, my eyes are fixed on the scum in front of me. I roughly yank Sting off Lucy. And I swing.

I punch the dastard right in the face; I pound him until he's on the ground and groaning. But I don't stop, I can't stop, I have tunnel vision and my rage just grows.

How Dare _He_ Touch Her Like That! How Dare He _Force_ _Himself on Her_! The nerve of this man to even be in the _same room with her alone_ … _WHAT DID HE DO TO HER!_

I take a step back trying to calm myself by taking deep breaths. I look down at Sting laying on the ground groaning. His nose is bleeding and he has a cut on his lip. There's a bruise already forming on his cheek. I breathe heavily as I take in the rest of him. He's shirtless and his erection is plain to see, and I can feel my hand form into a fist again as I hit him again.

"Natsu. Natsu, stop. I think he gets it. Stop," I hear someone's soft voice say behind me.

When I turn my rage-filled gaze on the person who had spoken, my eyes instantly soften and become gentle. Standing behind me is Lucy, in a red bra, her chest heaving from the events that just occurred. Her shirt was parted and the buttons that usually held the shirt together were scattered on the floor. Lucy is shivering and her face is tear streaked and suddenly I could care less about the trash at my feet.

I quickly move towards her and wrap my arms around her shaking form, bringing her in close and holding onto her tightly.

She hugs me back just as desperately, gripping the back of my jacket as if drawing strength from our embrace.

I breathe in Lucy. That scent of fresh rain that was so uniquely her caused my heart rate to lower and my rage subsided. I can feel tears seep through my shirt and Lucy shudder again in my arms and I hold her tighter.

After a few minutes, she's stop shaking and her tears have stopped, but I don't let go.

Why wasn't I there for her? I could have stopped this from happening, if only I would have been there.

"Natsu. Natsu, you can let go of me now. I'm okay. Really, I'm fine." I hear Lucy say, strength returning to her voice.

Reluctantly, I pull away from her. Looking down at her I don't say anything as I take off my jacket and drape it over her shoulders and zip it up for her.

With my hand on the small of her back, I lead her out of the dark class, leaving Sting slowly sitting up on the ground.

When we're out in the hallway I finally look at Lucy who's staring at me nervously. "Say something, Natsu," Lucy says expectantly.

"Are you really ok?" I ask and she nods. "What did he do to you?" It comes out harsher then I meant it to be.

"He, um he- " Lucy starts, her voice cracking. She’s looking anyway but at me, the floor, the lockers, her shoes.

"You know what, let's get out of here." I say interrupting her.

She looks at me confused, "What do you mean?"

After she says this, the bell rings signaling the end of lunch and students start to pour into the hallway.

"Let's leave, forget about school for the rest of the day. We can go anywhere you want," I say loud enough for her to hear me over the shuffle of feet. “Or is there a nerd code that says you can’t ditch school?” I say smiling at her.

She just rolls her eyes, chuckling as she pushes my shoulder. Looking up into my eyes, she smiles and nods her head, "Ok, let's do it,"

Smiling, I take her hand and lead her through the crowd towards the doors. When we're outside I ask her, "Where do you want to go? Your house?"

"No," Lucy says, "I don't want to go home. I don't want to be in that house right now."

I nod my head thinking.

I have an idea. But is it really a good idea to take her to the gym?

"Okay… there's this place…” I clear my throat before continuing, “a place that I go to when I need to be alone and work off some steam, do you… do you want to go there… with me?" I ask looking at her nervously.

After a minute, Lucy smiles at me and says, "Yes, I would like that."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> All you need to know is...  
> Lisanna gets Sting to go after Lucy in order to hurt both Natsu and Lucy (two birds, one stone)  
> He lures Lucy into an empty classroom during lunch  
> Sting touches Lucy inappropriately and without her consent -mostly over her clothes  
> He sees her shoulder scar  
> Natsu finds them and pulls Sting off Lucy  
> Makes sure she's ok, before beating up Sting  
> They end up skipping school for the rest of the day


	16. Learning Self Defense

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Natsu teaches Lucy some self defense

_Lucy’s POV_

We’ve been walking in silence for a couple of minutes. Natsu keeps fidgeting and looking back at me, but he hasn’t let go of my hand since we left the school. Which I’m grateful for, he makes me feel safe and I draw strength from him. I’m surrounded by his small, the jacket he gave me is too big but it’s warm, soft, and smells like a camp fire.

Eventually we stop in front of a rundown building with faded words over the entrance that reads _Ice Make_. I’ve never been to this part of town and without Natsu I would be completely lost.

It’s the first time I’ve ever skipped school. It’s funny, if someone had told me a month ago that I was going to be skipping school and had a guy stay at my house for a whole weekend and actual have fun with the boy who’s tormented me for most of my life, I would have checked them into a hospital because they had obviously had a psychotic break.

But, Natsu… I’m experiencing so many new things because of Natsu.

When we get to the front doors of the building, Natsu lets go of my hand and pulls a key out of his pocket.

It’s weird, the moment Natsu lets go of my hand I just want to grab his and not let go. They’re so big and warm, and when we were walking down the street holding hands in silence, I couldn’t help but feel this tingling run up and down my arm making me feel giddy.

Natsu swings the door open for me to enter. He quickly follows after me shutting it behind him. Looking around the room I can see that it’s just a plain, old boxing gym. There are punching and speed bags lining the wall opposite the door and in the center of the room, there’s a large ring for boxing matches. Wood benches run parallel on all four sides of the ring.

There are two doors in the corner, one is propped open showing rows of lockers and a couple of showers. On the other door, there’s a worn plaque that reads _‘Ur Fullbuster, Owner’_ and the lights are turned off in the office. Through the large window that takes up half the wall, I can see a desk with a lamp on it and filing cabinets lining the walls in the room.

Everything is layered in a fresh coat of dust, but the equipment looks worn and well used.

Suddenly Natsu clears his throat. I turn to look at him, he’s standing to my right watching my reaction. He looks nerves, fidgeting with his hands, and shifting from foot to foot. He keeps glancing from my face to our surroundings. “So, uh, what do you think?”

I take in a deep breath, smelling leather and sweat mixed with cleaning product. Smiling, I reply, “It’s nice... thank you for bringing me here.” Natsu visibly relaxes; he sighs and a relieved smile graces his features.

“Yeah. This place… this is where I come when I’m stressed or I’ve had a bad day... Or when I need to be alone. It’s a great place to blow off some steam. It’s kind of like my escape.” He says smiling sheepishly. “My foster brother got adopted by the owner here, so for as long as I can remember this has been my haven…” Natsu continues as he walks over to one of the punching bags, “When I was still dating Lisanna I would come here whenever she said she had to stay after school… I guess I always knew there was something up with her. I just didn’t want to accept it. So, I came here to take my mind off of it and forget. This place has been more of a home to me than where I actually live.”

It takes a minute to let the words sink in. This place is so precious to him. It’s his home, a place he can escape the outside world, a place he goes to when he feels lonely and unwanted. He comes here to hide from the rest of the world; this secluded, rundown gym has probably been here for him more times than I can count. When his parents weren’t there, when his girlfriend ignored him, when his friend betrayed him, when there was no where else in the world for him to turn to… and he brought me here.

Natsu brought me here because it’s the one place he feels safe. I didn’t want to go home because I would have felt lonely and dejected in that empty house. So, instead he brought me here so that I can escape the world with him. I doubt anyone from school knows about this place, it’s kind of far. Does that mean Natsu trusts me enough to let me into his safe haven? He brought me here because he was worried about me and thought I needed a safe haven like him.

At the thought, a huge grin spreads across my face and I walk over to Natsu who was now standing by a punching bag. “This place is amazing,” I say as I look up into his dark eyes. “It’s exactly what I needed.”

“Really?” He asks staring back at me.

“Yeah.”

We look at each other for a second more before Natsu steps back and walks over to a bench, sitting down on it. I follow after him when he says, “So… what did-” He takes a deep breath, “what did he do to you?” His voice cracks as he stares fiercely at the ground as if all his anger would go away as long as he stares at it long enough.

My eyes move to the ground as well.

“He kissed me. And,” I clear my throat before continuing, “and groped me. But that’s as far as it got thanks to you.” When I look back up his eyes are on me, studying my reaction.

He’s silences unnerves me, so I begin to ramble hoping to fill the vacant space his silence leaves.

“Honestly I was shocked. I didn’t know what to do, I don’t know if you’ve noticed but guys don’t usually show me much attention so when he suddenly just came onto me I didn’t know what to think let alone what to do. Then he says that Lisanna was the one to put him up to it, and I still don’t know what to do with that information. And, oh god, when he touched me I felt like I was going to barf and, and if wasn’t for you- how far do you think he would have gone? There’s no way he would have raped me, I mean he was pretty caught up in the moment, but Sting wouldn’t go that far for Lisanna. But I can’t get the feeling of his lips on me out of my head and if feel so disgusted, I just —”

Natsu grabs my hands. I hadn’t even realized they were shaking until he stopped them.

He’s now squatting in front of me so that we’re eye level; “Hey, hey,” he whispers in a soothing voice until I meet his eyes, “listen, you’re safe now. I’m here and I stopped him. I would never let him do something like that to you; I won’t ever let him do something like to you again. Okay?” He pulls me into an embrace and I burry my face into the crock of his neck while he continues to talk soothingly to me, stroking my hair. “Trust me, I am here for you. You can lean on me, I’m so sorry something like this happened to you. But I’m here. I’m here.”

Gently he pushes me back just enough so that we can look into each other’s faces. Leaning forward with his eyes closed, Natsu rests his forehead on mine and whispers, “Everything’s ok now.” And I close my eyes and lean into the touch.

When Natsu finally does pull away, I open my eyes to see that same big, goofy grin on his face again. And I can’t help but smile back.

“Okay, I’m going to teach you some self defense,” he says confidently.

A fond smile starts to form slowly on my face as I watch Natsu climb into the ring and turn around, holding his hand out for me to take. My smile just grows larger as I take his outstretched hand and he pulls me up with him.

“I’ve always wondered how it would feel standing in the middle of one of these things,” I say, letting go of Natsu’s hand and walking toward the center of the ring.

When I turn back around, Natsu is just looking at me. I wait for him to say something, but he just continues to stare.

Huh, is something wrong? Do I have something on my face, maybe something on my clothes? I can’t help but glance down, but everything looks normal.

When I look back up at Natsu with a questionable expression, he just kind of shakes his head.

“Sorry, it’s just that… my jacket, it looks really… it looks big. On you that is,” he chuckles lightly to himself as he scratches the back of his neck and looks away.

“Ooookay. Weirdo.”

“Let’s get started! First things first, form a fist.”

“What?”

“Come on, do it. Despite what most people think, a lot of people don’t realize that the way they punch is wrong.”

“Ok Master Obi-wan Kenobi,” I say as I curl my fingers inward and lay my thumb over the top of my fingers.

Grabbing my hand, Natsu exams it, “Good, make sure to always have your thumb on the outside otherwise when you go in for the blow you could end up hurting your thumb as well. And when you do punch, make sure to keep your wrist straight, if not you could hurt yourself.”

I do as he says, as he comes closer to me and taps the inside of my foot with his.

“When you’re getting ready to punch someone have a wide stance, just a little over hip length. Whichever hand is your dominant bring that leg back, so that when you punch the person acting you, you’ll have some momentum.” 

Again I look down as I move my feet so that my right foot in slightly behind my left.

“Ok, looking good. Let’s try it.” Putting up his right hand with his palm facing me, Natsu points to his hand and says, “Hit me right here.”

I don’t say anything as my eyes shift from his face to his hand. Then I swing.

I thought it was a good swing, I really did, but when my fist reaches his hand I could tell that the hit barely had any force.

Natsu starts to laugh and I shot him a death glare. He just smiled and said, “Hey, it’s not like you’ll get it the first time, don’t sweat it. Next time, try drawing power from your planted right foot, not just your arm. Throw your punch using your whole body. And when you do hit the person, follow through, don’t stop just because your fist made contact.”

I nod and try again. And again. And again.

“Good, you’re getting better. And remember that it’s always better to go in for a frontal punch rather than a side- or uppercut because it’s quick and people will have a tougher time blocking it. Plus when someone sees you going in for a side hit, they see it coming which gives them time to stop it.”

I try it a couple of more times to make sure I’ve gotten the movement into my head. Panting a little from the long punching session, I smile. I think I’m starting to get the hang of this.

“Ok. Next let’s look at how to block. What you’ll do is when someone comes in to deliver a blow like this,” Natsu proceeds to swing his arm towards me, stopping just before he make contact.

“What you’ll do is raise the arm that is closest to the incoming fist. From there, you’ll stop the blow by using your forearm to keep it from making contact with you inner body. Like this.” Natsu slowly demonstrates how to do it step by step.

“Now while you block, set up for a punch making the fist you did earlier. Then when you’ve successfully blocked their punch, and hit them.”

“I think I get it, let’s try it.” I say as I get into stance.

Natsu smirks and then nods.

We take the first couple swings slow, so that I can get the hang of the movement before we speed it up. The next thing I know, I’m sweating after the twentieth time from blocking his punches and swinging a couple of my own. Natsu doesn’t even look like he’s breathing heavy. Probably because he’s a maniac who works out all the time and has crazy stamina.

Inbetween breaths I ask Natsu, “How are you not a little tired, we’ve been doing this for the past thirty minutes?”

“Oh, I’ve worked out for much longer than this. When I come to this gym, I don’t just hang out. When there’s others around, I tend to box with them, so this is just like a warm up for me.”

“Must be nice, meathead.”

He just laughs at me as I try to catch my breath. Was it always this hot in this place?

“Hey Natsu, is there anything I can change into? I’m dying in your jacket over here, I’m getting all sweaty and gross.”

“Just take the jacket off.”

“Uh, I- uh. Well, I kind of can’t. Have you forgotten about what happened to my t-shirt?”

Natsu looks confused for a second but I can definitely see the wheels turning in his head. Slowly his face turns a bright red as he looks down and then back at me and then down again.

I can’t help the laugh that bubbles up from my throat at his embarrassed look. It’s so adorable.

“Ah, geez,” he says looking to the side and rubbing the back of his neck. “Sorry, I totally forgot.”

“You’re fine.” It’s silent for a second before I realize that what I said has a double meaning, “I mean you’re good, not fine. Not that you’re not, not fine, you’re fine too, but that’s beside the point. And now I’m just rambling and I think I’m going to stop talking now.” I can’t help but feel my already hot body temperature go up as my face grows red.

Natsu laughs and smiles fondly down at me.

“Come on, I always have a spare set of clothes in my locker just in case I forget some at home. They’ll be a little big, but they’ll do the trick.”

He leads me out of the boxing ring and towards one of the back rooms. The heavy, steel door is propped open with a wooden wedge. The room itself has lockers lining its walls with a couple of benches in the center of the room. It’s tiled and looks clean enough, and a little further down in the room, I can see showers. There’s a small window at the very top of the back wall, just large enough to provide sunlight to the room.

Natsu leads us to one of the lockers on the left side and quickly slides the lock off of it. I’m not quite sure what I expect to see when he opens his locker, but I’m still pleasantly interested to see that true to his word he has an extra t-shirt and pair of shorts. There’s also a towel, shampoo and body wash, as well as deodorant in his locker.

It’s quite organized and clean, and it all just smells of him. The moment he opened his locker I knew he used it often, that camp fire smell that is just so very him. I can’t help but take a deep breath.

“Ok, so here you go,” Natsu makes me jump when his deep voice interrupts me from my thoughts. He’s holding out a t-shirt for me to take and says, “So I don’t think the shorts will fit you, but here’s one of my shirts.”

“Thanks Natsu,” I say as I grab the shirt from him. He smiles, “No problem, Luce.”

“……..” It’s silent as I stare at him, waiting for him to leave, but all he does is continue to stare and smile.

“Uh, Natsu.”

“Yeah, what’s up?” He says completely oblivious.

“Are you going to leave?”

“Why would I— oh, right, right. Yep, I’m getting out of here. You, uh, take your time? _Cough_ I’ll just be outside in the gym area when you’re done.” He says as he rushes out of the locker room.

I can’t help but laugh at his antics, he’s such a dork. A charming, well-toned, and wonderful dork.


	17. Meeting the Friends

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Natsu introduces Lucy to Grey and Juvia... and Grey give him some advice

_Natsu’s POV_

“I’ll just be outside in the gym area when you’re done,” I say as I quickly leave Lucy behind in the locker room.

When I reach the door, I stop and go to take out the wedge that keeps the door open. However, as I bend over to grab it, I glance up to see Lucy standing there still smiling at me. I can’t help but quickly look back down to the ground as my cheeks become warm.

“Thank you!” She calls out when I finally leave the room.

I stand there just outside of the locker room in the eerily quiet gym. I take in a shaky breath as I rub my sweaty hands on my pants.

Damn.

I take in another deep breath while I hang my head, close my eyes, and shake it so that my hair falls into my face.

Everyday I’m growing closer to Lucy. Whenever I look at her, her inner beauty shines through and steals my breath away. How can a girl I’ve walked by in the hallway for _years_ suddenly mean so much to me?

I take a steady breath and look around at the gym equipment. Another smile graces my face, and I let out an airy laugh. I swear Lucy has changed me so much. I never would have brought anyone here.

My safe place. My one escape. It’s now hers too.

But if I’m being honest with myself, ever since that night when I had nowhere else to go, no one to turn to, Lucy has become my safe place.

She comforts me, she grounds me and accepts every part of who I am. She makes me want to be better. There’s something about her that makes my insides flutter, my heart thump a little louder. I just feel more when I’m around her.

A noise comes from behind me and I turn to see that the door to the locker room cracked open. The hinges are pretty old and rusted, but before I can close the door again movement catches my eye.

It’s Lucy. She’s standing by the benches and holding up my old shirt. I gulp.

Before I didn’t really pay attention to the fact that she was just in her bra. There were other, more important things to think about. But now, she’s standing there and I’m suddenly getting really hot.

I can see smooth skin, stretched taut and glistening a bit from the sweat of the workout earlier.

I bet her skin is really soft, I feel my breath hitch a little. I suddenly have a strong eager to run my hands up and down her sides to feel the muscles and skin there. I wonder how—

“And what are you doing?”

“FUC-” I jump at least five feet in the air and my heart stops. A hand lands heavily on my shoulder as I whirl around to see who could possibly be in the gym.

Grey’s trying to suppress a laugh as he lightly slaps my back saying, “Wow, Fire for Brains, what’s got you all riled up?”

My cheeks burn as I try to get my heart rate under control, “ _Well_ Ice Bastard, I wasn’t expecting someone to just turn up behind me considering I thought we were the only ones here.”

“We?” Grey asks confused. His eyes shift from me to behind my shoulder.

“Oh, hi.” Lucy stops at the door, surprised to see the two of us right outside of the locker room. If possible, my face grows even warmer. If my face gets any hotter, I swear my brains really will catch fire.

Embarrassed, I clear my throat. “Um, Lucy this is Grey, Grey this is Lucy a uh, friend.”

Grey shoots me a look that I don’t quite understand. I just smile meekly back as my hand comes up and rubs the back of my head.

Lucy’s oblivious to the exchanges as she sticks out her hand and says, “Ah the famous Grey, it’s nice to finally meet you, I’ve heard a lot about you.”

Turning his eyes on her, Grey beams and takes her hand, shaking it. “It’s nice to meet you too Lucy. I think this is the first time I’ve met one of Natsu’s friends,” leaning in he adds, “is he threatening you.”

Lucy giggles as I shove the idiot away. “Oi, who is threatening who here?” I say as Grey just moves out of reach.

“Well, I doubt this lovely lady would be the one threatening you.” He laughs.

“Lovely lady, huh?” another voice says from across the gym. “Do I have a new love rival for Grey’s affection?”

I stop as Grey beams broadly and makes his way over to a blue haired female, Juvia.

“That could never happen babe,” he says as he kisses her and pulls her over to the group. With his arm resting comfortably around her waist, he introduces her to Lucy, “This is Juvia, my girlfriend—” “Lover,” she interjects eyeing Lucy as Grey continues unbothered, “we come here often to spare with each other.”

“Juvia, this is Lucy, Natsu’s friend.” At the news, she visibly relaxes and her stare changes from a suspicious one to that curious interest.

Lucy looks from Juvia and Grey to me, a little unsure, I send her a small smile and she smiles back before extending her hand to Juvia, “Hi it’s nice to meet you, and can I just say that I’m loving the blue, it looks amazing.”

Juvia grins widely at Lucy and, ignoring the outstretched hand, pulls her in for a hug saying, “Oh Juvia likes you. You know, I don’t think Natsu’s ever introduced us to a friend before, let alone a girl.”

Great, just as my face was going back to a normal color, Juvia’s comment made it heat right back up again.

“Yeah well, none of them was really worth introducing until now, I suppose,” I say a bit heated as I gently pull Lucy away from Juvia’s death grip.

Grey just rolls his eyes before asking, “So what are you guys doing here? I thought your school doesn’t get out for another thirty minutes Tabasco Idiot.”

“Well, Snowflake we just so happen to have left early today, and I wanted to show Luce here some moves you know how it is.”

“Oh, is he trying to get you to spar with him because he can never beat me?” He asks Lucy.

I laugh before replying, “Oh you wish Popsicle, you know that I wipe the floor with you every time we fight, which makes me wonder why you’re here with Juvia? Another sparing session to find an edge against me, let me give you some advice it won’t work.”

“It’s funny that you’re acting all high and might, Lizard Brain.”

Before I can reply though, I hear giggling. Me and Grey freeze as we look over to see Juvia and Lucy laughing at our antics. It’s easy to see that they’ve become quick friends as they lean on each other and shake their heads at us. Whatever they were talking about obviously has both girls smiling mischievously.

Me and Grey glance at each other with warning in our eyes. Those two are a dangerous due for sure.

Grey walks over first, and I follow after. “Sorry about that ladies, we just get… overzealous sometimes.”

“That’s one way of saying it,” Lucy says laughing, as Juvia just smirks before adding, “Don’t worry babe it’s nothing new and I’m sure Lucy knows what she got into when becoming friends with Natsu.”

“Hey,” I yell.

“Oh brother, I don’t think even God himself knew what he was getting into when he creates Natsu,” Lucy says.

“Hey!” I say even louder, betrayed. Everyone laughs as I cross my arms and pout.

Still smiling, Lucy makes her way to me and nudges my arm good naturedly. 

“Oh, I like her. She can stay.” Grey says between laughing breaths.

Following Lucy’s lead, Juvia just rolls her eyes and grabs Grey’s hand, pulling him toward the locker room, “Come on let’s change so we can start our work out.”

As they go, they both through Lucy one last smile and disappear into the other room.

It’s silent once they’re left.

Lucy just looks up at me as I still pout. I’m not really angry or anything but come on she should have been on my side.

Nudging me again, Lucy says, “I liked your friends.”

When I didn’t say anything, she just rolled her eyes and the pushed my shoulder. “Get that pout off your face, you know I love you.”

As soon as the words were out of her mouth my eyes went wide. But nothing could compare to the look on Lucy’s face. Her mouth stopped halfway open as if frozen mid-word and her eyes grow larger with each passing second. The color of her face become such a searing red that if I hadn’t known any better, I would have thought she was sunburned.

“I-uh- I mean— you know wha— it was just—I was just—” Lucy was short circuiting and for a panicked second I thought maybe she was going to faint, before she stopped suddenly and took a deep breath.

Clearing her throat, she squared her shoulders and stared at my chest before saying, “I meant that as a friend thing. Friends love one another, I mean I certainly love Levy. And, yeah, I love you like a friend.” It almost sounded like she was trying to convince herself, but I didn’t say anything.

I was too distracted with the feeling that rushed through me when she said it again. It was like a swooping, thrilled sensation sharp in my gut. It felt like that wonderous, easy joy that makes your head light when you finish riding a roller-coaster. The time of lighthearted joy that makes you want to say, ‘Let’s do that again’. Lucy said she loved me. And for a moment I entertained the idea that it was more than friends.

I hadn’t even realized I was just standing there with a goof smile on my face until Lucy clears her throat again and hits me in the arm.

“Ow, what was that for?” I ask rubbing the offended appendage.

“I thought you were going to finish teaching me some self-defense or something.”

“Right, right,” I say, for a second I completely forgot why we were here. “Well Juvia and Grey will be taking the boxing ring to spar, so let’s head over to the punching bags. Trust me when you have pent up anger or need to think straight or not think at all, punching bags are your best friend.”

After I help wrap her hands in tape and show her the proper way to hit the bag, I hold it for her.

“Now just let out all your anger and frustrations out on the bag.” She nods and begins to swing. The low thud of fist hitting bag is soothing as she slowly builds up steam, striking the object harder and harder with each go.

Juvia and Grey started fighting a while ago and the gym is filled with soft sounds of bodies hitting equipment, grunts, and footfalls. I take a deep breath and feel relaxed. I watch as Lucy jabs at the punching bag, completely focused.

I didn’t have the chance to really look at her before, but now I just stare. She looks so good in my t-shirt. It’s too big for her and the collar keeps slipping off one of her shoulders, and I don’t know why but it is so hot. She looks so good in my clothes, better than me even. How is that fair?

Her checks are red from the work out and sweat trickles down her forehead. Most of her hair is in a ponytail, but the loose strands stick to her neck and soft puffs of air escape her lips every time she hits the bag.

I stare at her mesmerized. She is beautiful.

I don’t even realize she’s talking to me until she moves away from the punching bag and over to the bunches, gulping down water.

I blink and damn it what did she say? She’s staring at me waiting for a reply and I have no idea what she asked?! What was it? Should I just agree and hope for the best? But what if the answer is supposed to be no? What do I do?

I walk over to her slowly, trying not to betray my inner panic. She’s still staring at me as she takes off the tape.

“Uh, yes…?” I say, I try for confidence, but it comes out more questioning.

She laughs and rolls her eyes, “I said Juvia and Grey invited us to join them for dinner, did you want go?”

Oh. Now that he thinks about it, the pair are no longer in the boxing ring and he can hear the showers going in the locker room.

“Right. Uh, yes, that would be fun… But only if you’d want to?” I say.

She beams, “Great, um in that case should we get a quick shower as well? I think Juvia said she had an extra shirt for me if I wanted to borrow it.”

“Ok, yeah, let’s meet back here in 20 minutes?” Lucy nods her head before heading into the bathroom. I lag behind for just a second and take a long breath. Today has been one hell of a day and it’s not even over yet.

* * *

“Dude, you are so stupid!” I say as we walk along the pavement.

It’s late evening by the time we leave the restaurant and I can’t help the wheezing laughter that escapes me as Juvia tells us a story of how Grey fell off the ski lift while they were at the resort. Apparently, he face planted right into the snow without his shirt because it got caught on the lift’s protective railing and he was moving around too much.

“Oh, shut up, you’re one to talk.” I don’t reply, too caught up in laughing. I can hear Lucy trying to suppress a laugh by my side and I lean into her, to stop myself from bending over with the effort of laughing too hard.

“Anyway,” Grey says annoyed, “have you heard from Erza recently?”

Whipping tears from my eyes, I shake my head still chuckling.

“Seems Jellal finally proposed.”

“What really?! I’m so happy for them!” I yelling fist bumping the air.

Grey looks unimpressed as he says, “I haven’t even told you if she said yes or not.”

“Come on, it’s Erza we’re talking about. She loves the guy, of course she said yes.”

He lets out a slow suffering breath as he looks at me, before nodding, “Yeah, that’s true. But you know they’re in their last year in university, so she said they’re not going to have the wedding until after they’ve graduated.”

“I’m happy for them,” I say smiling, “though if he hurts her, there will be hell to pay –mainly by her.”

“What university does she go to?” Lucy asks, still under my arm. I blink, I guess I never did remove my arm from her shoulder after leaning into her.

She doesn’t say anything and neither do I.

“Fairy Tail University,” Grey supplies.

Lucy gasps and I can feel the movement of it through her shoulders. “No way, that’s where I want to go! I’ve applied there already and now I’m just waiting for an acceptance or rejection letter. Does she like it there, what’s it like?”

My eyebrows raise in surprise at this new information. Grey’s talking to her about the college, but I barely pay attention as I think about how I also applied to FT University. What are the odds?

I mean I applied because I know Erza is going there; me and Grey decided a long time ago that we’d go there too. Even Juvia said she’s applied. But the school isn’t ivy league so it surprises me Lucy would want to go there. She’s so smart and could probably go to any university she applied to.

So why did she pick Fairy Tail Uni of all places?

“Is anyone in there? Or do you _really_ have fire for brains?” Lucy says in my ear.

I jump and glance at her. Her heads turned to me and there’s a smirk of amusement on her face. She’s still tucked under my arm and I gulp.

Softly chuckling I try to clover my embarrassment and scratch the back of my neck. “Oh, don’t you start too, Grey’s an idiot.”

She sighs contently and looks at the pair in front of us as they walk ahead holding hands. “I like them,” looking back at me she says, “thanks for introducing us. Me and Juvia plan on meeting up sometime for coffee; I want her to meet Levy too, I think they’d get along. Besides It’s nice to see you have friends outside of school who treat you the way you deserve.”

I smile down at her. “I’m glad you had a good time.”

She just hums back, and we fall into a peaceful silence.

She breaks the silence again after a couple of seconds, “you’re the one who gave me that good time. Today started out horrible, with Sting… today could have turned out very different and it’s thanks to you that it didn’t. So, thank you, really.”

And after a second of hesitation, she leaned up and kissed my cheek.

I froze and my brain stopped working.

Cannot compute.

Error. Error.

404 Not Found.

She’s pulls away and looks anywhere but at me. Then, biting her lip, she takes a breath and glances at me from the side of her eye.

I’m still frozen in place as my cheek tingles and buzzes from the touch of skin. I want to touch the spot where she kissed and see if the skin there is just as hot as it seems. But I can’t seem to get my arms to move and I just end up staring off in front of us with my mouth hanging open, still a bit in shock.

She laughs nervously and reaches up to close my mouth. As soon as my mouth is closed it’s like everything comes crashing back into reality. My heart picks up pace and is beating loud. She kissed me. She really kissed me, well on the cheek but that has to count for something right? What does it mean? What does my reaction mean? Whenever Lisanna kissed me, I never felt like that even when we first started dating.

I blink a couple times before staring at Lucy. As soon as our eyes lock, she turns away staring straight ahead. I continue to stare at her profile.

After a second I take a breath to say something, when she clears her throat and begins, “Um so, yeah, thanks. And thank you for taking me to that gym, uh, what was it called again.”

“Ice Make,” I say still a little dazed and a bit confused from the sudden drastic change in conversation.

“Right. It was nice.”

I shake my head and allow for the kissing incident to drop for now, I should probably figure out what I’m feeling first before bringing it up anyway. I take in our surroundings and can see Grey and Juvia still ahead of us with their heads bent close whispering about something that’s just between the two of them. “Yeah, it’s the one place I can go to just let it all out. When the world becomes too much to handle, or when I get angry or upset, I go there and let everything out, until I can barely move. Until I’m completely worn out, that’s when I know that I’ll be fine, and I feel better.”

Shaking her head, Lucy chuckles. “So that’s how you got all those wonderful muscles,” she says under her breath, just barely loud enough for me to hear and I wonder for a second if I’ve heard correctly.

“What?” again I stare at her with wide eyes.

“Hmm, oh nothing,” is her response as she pulls out from under my arm and walks up to Grey and Juvia, saying something that makes the two laugh.

For the second time in the last 10 minutes, Lucy has made my mouth drop.

By the time Juvia and Lucy have been dropped off at their respective houses, it’s just me and Grey headed home.

It’s nice to be around him and see how he’s really been doing. We haven’t spoken in nearly a week and I want to know how everything’s been with Juvia. They seemed to have a great time on the trip and are closer than ever.

After a while, we fall into a companionable silence. Eventually though, Grey breaks it by saying, “I like her.”

There’s no need to ask who ‘her’ is; we both know he’s talking about Lucy.

I smile softly and look up at one of the flickering lamps posts. “Yeah, me too.”

Grey stops and tugs at my arm bringing me to a halt to face him.

“I mean it. She’s amazing, she’s witty and sarcastic, she knows when to back you up and when to tease you. Juvia loves her. And most importantly, she makes you happy.”

“How do you know she makes me happy?” I ask, a bit shocked.

“Come on, anytime she’s in the room you can’t stop looking at her. You light up when she talks and when you’re around her you smile so hard _my_ cheeks hurt. Juvia thought it was cute, I just think it’s disgusting, but whatever. I don’t think I’ve ever seen you smile so much. She’s so much better than any girl who’s dated you in the past, so we approve.”

I just blink as Grey starts walking again, taking off his jacket as he does so.

“Wha—? Me and Lucy aren’t dating,” I say confused.

Grey’s head sharply whips to look at me, an expression of complete disbelief covers his features. “Hold up what the hell are you talking about?”

“Me and Lucy aren’t dating.” I say again with more confidence.

“And why the fucking hell not?!?!” Groaning, Grey suddenly rubs his face, “this is just like you. You are the _biggest_ idiot I know. Idiot doesn’t even seem like a good enough word to define the mush of stupidity that is your brain.”

He runs his hand through his hair before looking back at me and asking, “please explain to me why you haven’t asked her out? The last girlfriend you had you’d only known for 20 minutes before agreeing to date her. So why haven’t you jumped at the chance to be with someone who’s _actually_ making you happy?”

“How do you know me and Lisanna broke up?” I ask defensively and quite honestly trying to deflect.

“There he goes again, being an idiot. Dude, you went out with her, slung your arm around her shoulder, leaned in close the whole time, Juvia saw her kiss your damn check, of course I thought you broke up with Lisanna! Besides you’ve never even thought about bringing _Lisanna_ to the gym, this is the first time I’ve seen you bring anyone to the gym!” He was yelling now, obviously annoyed.

I roll my eyes, talking to Grey like this always got me heated and I yell back getting into his face, “Yeah, well you’d be _wrong, genius_! We’re nothing more than just friends!”

“Well then quit being a coward and ask her out already because deep down you have feelings for her, you ass! And you better do it before another guy catches on and sees how great she is and takes her away!”

That did it, I hit my forehead against his as I seethe, “Shut. Up.”

Grey pushes back, “Think about it, use your head for once because I know you can figure this out! You. Like. Her. So, man up, grow some balls and ask her out!”

“Argh! I don’t know what I feel,” I say as I push away from Grey and pull my hair.

It’s silent in the darkened street with just the noise from electricity running through the streetlamp and ragged breathing. As my heart rate returns to normal, Grey’s at my shoulder putting a hand there, causing me to look at him.

He has a saddened look in his eye and a small peace-offering smile on his face as he says, “It’s obvious you’re happy around her, and all I want is for you to be happy. She likes you too, so what are you waiting for? A formal invitation?”

I just sigh and let my head hang, shaking it a bit. “I don’t know.” Who I’m saying this to eludes me.

Grey just squeezes my shoulder and let’s go, then starts walking again. “Well, I’d say figure it out before it’s too late.”


	18. The Fight

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Natsu thinks it's time to confront his feelings for Lucy. But Sting has something to say.

_Natsu’s POV_

Ever since last night’s talk with Grey, I haven’t really been able to think about anything else. Maybe he was right, Lucy is amazing. She’s funny and beautiful and makes me happy. All I want to do is see her happy as well.

But… am I the one she wants to do that? We have such a complicated past. I mean, I helped make her life hell for years. But recently it’s been different. We joke and hang out; we support and lean on each other.

There’s something there. I’ve felt it. But is it enough; am I enough?

I sigh as the bell rings for the end of the day.

Mr. Ichiya pulls my attention back to the front as he says, “Alright MEN and woMEN, remember to read chapter 11 for discussion next week-”

Yeah, like I’m going to do that, I think as the room starts packing up their stuff.

“Also, I have your tests graded, make sure to grab them on your way out, most of you did well there was some room for improvement in others, but overall great job class!”

I gulp. Lucy helped me study for this test all day on Wednesday, I felt pretty confident when I turned it in, but now I’m not so sure.

This was the first time in a while that I actually study for a test and did it without any ‘help’.

As I make my way towards the front of the room, I feel my palms sweat. I wait as other kids go through the stack of tests, grab theirs and head out of the classroom. By the time it’s my turn, I wipe my hands on my jeans. I quickly find my test and rush out of the room without looking at the grade.

In the hallway, I take a deep breath. No one pays any attention to me, they’re too busy rushing to catch the buses or meeting up with friends.

I steel myself before looking at the red mark covering the top of my paper.

‘ _B -Great job Natsu, keep up the good work.’_

I blink and let go of a breath I hadn’t realized I was holding.

I got a B. A smile creeps its way onto my lips until a full-blown grin stretches across my face.

I got a freakin’ B! I can’t wait to tell Lucy! That’s probably one of the best grades I’ve gotten all year and it was on a test no less. And it’s all thanks to her. I’m going to have to thank her for helping me, I can’t believe I got a B! Oh Man, my mind is going a mile a minute, I’m just so excited!

I stare at the paper as if the red letter will change if I look away for even just a second. A relieved laugh passes through my mouth and I shake my head.

I have to find Lucy and tell her the good news.

Maybe… maybe I should thank her by asking her on a date?

I know that I like her. How could I not? She’s beautiful, kind, smart, funny- honestly, I can’t believe it took me this long to realize it. I like her a lot. Way more than I ever liked Lisanna.

…But I wonder if she wants me in the same way.

I guess there’s only one way to find out.

I start making my way down the hall to where me and Lucy usually meet up. I can feel my nerves raising and my palms are sweating again for a completely different reason now. I gulp as my throat goes dry. I try to shake the tingling feeling out of my joints.

Focus on the good grade, not the possibly disastrous thing you’re about to do, I repeat to myself over and over as I walk through the halls.

“-ucy, you know the poor chick?”

I freeze and look around for the voice that just spoke. I’m close to where I’m meant to meet Lucy, but that voice stops me in my tracks.

Sting stands on the other side of the hallway surrounded by a group of guys. They all clustered around him and I can see that Sting is telling one of his ‘famous’ stories as all the people nearby lean in to listen.

I narrow my eyes at them, it sounded like he was talking about Lucy.

And anything out of his mouth can’t be good.

As I get closer, I can see a dark bruise on his cheek and his lip is still a bit swollen from when I punched him.

My anger raises the closer I get, but so does my satisfaction at seeing his beaten face. I wish I had done more to that creep.

But Lucy told me to let it go; so, I take a deep breath and try to ignore him and the group of people surrounding him.

He smiles smugly and runs a hand through his blond hair as his other hand waves around wildly. Everyone is completely absorbed in whatever it is he’s saying and no one notices me.

“I’m telling you guys, you wouldn’t know it, but she’s stacked. Don’t tell anyone else this, but she could rival Lisanna’s figure. It’s too bad she decides to wear those nasty baggy clothes. But I guess beggars can’t be choosers.” The group laughs at this as Sting gestures to his chest and continues, “hell, I’d buy her some clothes if it means she’d show off some cleavage.”

I’m absolutely boiling I can practically feel steam coming out of my ears. I don’t even notice that my hands are gripped into fists until my nails break skin.

Breath Natsu, I tell myself. Let them talk, he’s never going to see, let alone touch her again. I’ll make sure of that.

I start to walk again. When did I stop? But as I’m about to pass the group, Sting catches my eyes. That god forsaken smirk comes back onto his face as he starts to speak louder and stare directly at me, “Oh and her skin, ah man you won’t believe just by looking. You have to _touch_ it to feel how soft it is. All delicate and smooth.” He laughs then and says, “who would have thought that delicate is a word to describe Lucy. And honestly we’ll have to think of a different nickname than Fatty cause it just isn’t true.”

He has no right to know how her skin feels, let alone be talking about it to a group of people. I can feel my jaw clenching and I work to release the muscles there. I can’t let Sting see that he’s getting to me. It’s obvious that he’s trying to goad me into a fight. I shake my head and push past the crowd that’s forming. Lucy is okay. She told me to let it go. She’s past it and says I should get past it too.

“But don’t just take my word for it, just ask Natsu. I’m sure I’m not the only one who’s experienced her smooth skin. Isn’t that right, _Natsu_.”

I freeze and turn as all eyes look at me, just noticing my presence for the first time. A couple of people move away from me when they see the glare I send to Sting.

He just chuckles and makes his way towards me, the group parts to let him pass. More people in the hallway stops to see what’s going on.

Sting gets right into my space and turns his head just slightly, allowing for everyone in the hall to hear, “Well almost smooth. There is this _nasty_ scar on her back, just above her shoulder. I wonder how she got that? Probably from a—”

He never gets the chance to finish his thought as I swing a fist at his face.

But Sting’s ready this time and ducks. He quickly swings back and hits me in the gut. The crowd of people start yelling, but I’m only focused on my fight with Sting and the noise fades rapidly into the background.

* * *

_Lucy’s POV_

Where’s Natsu? He’s usually not this late.

I’m standing at our usually meet-up spot, it’s Friday and well I was hoping to spend the weekend with him. I don’t have any other plans and I know Levy has a date with that guy she’s been talking to, Gajeel. I was hoping to do some snooping on the dude, make sure he’s good enough for my best friend. I was hoping that maybe Natsu would want to help me, I remember him talking about a guy named Gajeel at his foster house. From what he says, Gajeel’s new to the house and doesn’t talk much with the others. He’s gruff, but Natsu swears that he can hear him playing guitar and sing at night. Maybe he’ll help me dig up information on the guy. It would definitely be more fun with him there.

If I’m being honest, I always have more fun with him there. I’ve known for a while now that my feelings for him goes deeper than just friends. I don’t know when it happened, but I do know I’ve been denying it for a while. But last night was different, something clicked.

My cheeks heat up at the thought of the kiss I gave him. I don’t know what I was thinking or where I got the courage, but I wouldn’t take it back for the world. Even if he doesn’t feel the same way.

I smile fondly at the memory of him teaching me self-defense and then basically meeting his brother. Juvia was great too and we all got along great. Plus, they’re all planning on going to Fairy Tail University too; wouldn’t it be great if me and Levy also got in?

I snap out of my thoughts as I see a couple of students race down the hall. What’s going on? Now that I think about it, this place is a lot less busy than it usually is at this time of day. Where is everyone? And where’s Natsu?

I start walking in the direction the students ran in and see a girl rush over to a group of three and say, “Guys, come quick. The King and the Knight are duking it out.”

The King and Knight, isn’t that Natsu and Sting?

I gulp, this can’t be good.

I feel my worry raise and my stomach twists into a knot; Natsu what are you doing?

Another girl gasps, “Do you know why?”

Everyone, including me, leans in to hear the first girl’s reply, “I heard it was about some girl, probably Lisanna. Word is Natsu is fighting to win her back from Sting.”

That-that can’t be right?

I’m caught off guard at the respond and suddenly I’m off-balance. I take a breath and place a hand on the wall. Blinking rapidly, I try to wrap my head around what I just heard.

I had thought… we were meshing so well. What happened?

Why does it feel like someone if squeezing my chest? I blink back tears that I hadn’t realized were forming in my eyes. I had thought that, maybe, we were becoming more than friends.

But something must have happened for Natsu to want to be with Lisanna again.

I take a steady breath and try to smile. It comes out more as a grimace.

I gulp back my feelings and try to think rationally; me and Natsu have been through so much in the past couple weeks and if Lisanna is the person that makes him happy… well who am I to stop him from having happiness. Even if that happiness is with someone other than me.

I had hoped we… but, no. I shake my head, I will support Natsu in whatever he decides. I will be his friend, just like I have been. My feelings aside, as long as we can still hang out and joke around, I’ll be happy.

I try for another smile and it comes out a little better this time. As more students, rush by me I realize I’ve just been standing here in a daze and Natsu’s fighting Sting. At. This. Very. Minute.

Oh God.

I take off, following the crowd to the fight.

I turn down a hallway and see just a huge mass of people yelling as someone is pushed up against the lockers with a bang.

I cringe and start fighting my way to the center of the circle. The shouts from people are incomprehensible and the closer I get to the middle, the hotter the air feels. With so many bodies packed in one area, arms are flying everywhere, and I get elbowed at least three times.

By the time I push to the front, I’m sweating slightly from the heat.

I gasp at what I see.

Natsu is breathing heavy as he pushes away from the lockers. There’s blood dripping down his forehead and into his right eye. A large bruise is rapidly forming on the left side of his jaw and there’s a cut just above the bruise on his cheekbone.

Sweat and blood mix together as Natsu wipes away at the fluid that falls from his cheek, smearing it across the side of his face. He holds his left side as if in pain and it’s obvious that he’s favoring that side of his body.

Sting is in no better shape. He shakes his head, trying to clear it as he raises his fist to strike again. His face holds a couple of newly forming bruises along with the one from yesterday. His lip has reopened and is bleeding again. He spits out the blood that trickles into his mouth after Natsu dodges his swing. Sting’s left eye is swollen and judging by the redness will probably be sore and shut tomorrow.

Natsu blocks another punch from Sting and retaliates by hitting him in the stomach. Sting keels over and steps back.

Oh Natsu, what are you doing?

I want to yell to him, but the noise in the hallway is already so loud, he probably won’t hear me even if I tried.

Just then, as if feeling my eyes on him, he looks up and scans the crowd. His eyes land on me for just a second before Sting punches him right in the ribs. I shout at that moment. It’s the side Natsu’s favoring and he falls, hitting the ground hard.

Sting stands over him and looks down at Natsu who is groaning and holding his ribs.

It gets quiet for just an instant before picking up again, even louder than before. Natsu struggles to his feet and his eyes search out for me.

I bite my lip at the pain I see on his face and I just want to run up to him and take it all away. A cold white rage shoots throw me.

That bastard Sting. He wasn’t satisfied with just messing with me, no he had to drag Natsu into this mess and hurt him. I’m so done with this fucking shithead. Him and Lisanna and anyone who ever hurt Natsu can go fuck themselves because he deserves better.

We both do.

I don’t even realize I’m stepping forward until I hear Natsu say, “Luce, don’t—" as he shakes his head slightly.

But I ignore him and step into Stings space. Surprised he turns to me, but before he can even react or say anything, I plant my feet just like Natsu taught me and swing, hitting him square on the chin. His head snaps back and he stumbles from the unexpected impact.

Natsu takes the opportunity and trips him. Sting lands hard and groans as the air is knocked out of him from the sudden loss of balance. I stand over him breathing hard as the anger seeps out of my shoulders.

Everyone goes silent as he rolls on the floor and slowly begins to make his way back up to his feet. All eyes are split between me, Sting, and Natsu. I let out one last breath before rubbing my knuckles. Damn, that _hurt_. But it went better than I thought it would. My knuckles ache from the impact and becomes an irritated red.

I ignore the crowd and turn to Natsu, who’s just gapping at me with a look between astonishment and pride. “Luc—” but before he can complete his thought someone yells, “Teacher’s coming.”

As soon as the words leave the person’s mouth, it’s chaos. People start running out of the hallway and push through side doors to get outside. Out of the corner of my eye, I see Sting escape through a back door.

“Shit,” I whisper and rush over to Natsu, who’s still holding his side.

I grab his left arm and drape it around my shoulders, as I say, “I got you hot head.”

He just chuckles than groans and says, “Grey’s a bad influence, and don’t make me laugh, it hurts.” I wrap my hand around his waist and lead him toward a side door that will take us outside.

“What am I going to do with you?” I ask no one in particular, and Natsu just smiles lopsided at me. My stomach flutters and my heart pounds against my chest before I can stop it.

I gulp and look away, turning my gaze forward and say lightly, “Well, come on then, let’s get you fixed up.” And with that, I lead us down the sidewalk towards his house.

* * *

When we finally make it, Natsu is exhausted.

He is such an idiot. What possessed him to think it was a good idea to fight Sting. He’s a beef head and can hold his own against anyone in the school. Granted so can Natsu, but come on, Natsu at least has some sense not to go fighting people when there are other ways of dealing with conflict.

Well I had _thought_ he had some sense, but I guess I was wrong.

I sigh as I haul Natsu up the stairs to his room. The house is just as busy as the last time I was here. Kids scream and run around downstairs. Luckily, no one stops us or asks what happened. I don’t recognize anyone, but Wendy’s cat runs pass us as we make it to the top of the stairs.

“Natsu, come on. You’re heavy, help me,” I whine as he leans more weight onto me.

“Can’t. Hurts.” Is all he replies, mumbling into my hair.

I huff an exasperated breath, but don’t push him off.

It’s a slow process but we finally make it to his door. I move him so that he leans into my back and I fidget with the door handle. He rests his head on top of mine and mumbles something again.

I don’t hear what he says but decide it’s not important. Besides, I’m trying not to think about the fact that Natsu is standing flush against my back and I can smell him again. God, I love his scent, like burning wood. And his arms are snaked around my waist. If I just lean back a little…

I snap out of my daze before both of us stumble to the ground. A blush rises to my cheeks as I yank the door open and step away from Natsu.

He makes a small noise in the back of his throat and pouts from my sudden absence.

“Come on, you need to lie down so I can check out that head injury.” I say standing in the doorway. When Natsu doesn’t budge, I roll my eyes and grab his arm. “Big baby.”

“Luce,” he starts but doesn’t finish as he flops face first onto the bed and lands with his head hitting his pillow.

I shake my head and close the door. His room is just as messy as before, seriously does this boy ever clean.

I remove the clothes from his desk chair, before moving it over to the side of his bed.

Natsu doesn’t move the whole time and when I finally sit down, I just look at him. His face is buried in pillows, but his pink hair sticks up at odd angles, even crazier than usual.

I hate seeing him like this. I lean over and start running my hand through his hair gently, soothing down those insane pink spikes. Natsu hums under my touch and I can see his shoulders relax.

He turns his head to me and stares up at my face through sleepy eyes.

This man means so much to me.

I look into his lidded eyes and see obsidian stare back. My hand moves down and I trace his jaw softly, conscious of the bruising there. My fingertips run over his cheek and I can feel the faint scratch of stubble.

His lips are parted, and I can’t help but think about how easy it would be to just lean forward. Just a little. I could feel those lips on mine.

My eyes slowly trace up his sharp nose and back to his eyes. Which look a lot more alert now than a second ago.

I jump at the sudden intense look in Natsu’s eyes. I quickly pull my hand away and sit straight. When did he wake up, I swear a second ago he was sleepy?

I gulp and look away. It’s silent for far too long and when I glance at Natsu again, he’s still watching me.

I clear my throat and stand up, “Al-alright, let’s get you cleaned up before you fall asleep.” I fidget and look down at him as he sits up slowly and winces.

When I see his clear pain, I forget about what happened a second ago and sit on the bed, worried.

I turn his head so I can get a look at the cut that meets his hairline. It’s stopped flowing blood a while ago which is good, but there’s still a lot of the dried liquid plastered to his forehead. I tenderly pull his hair away to get a better look. It’s shallow and, by the looks of it, will heal in a couple of days. It just needs to be cleaned.

I slowly lift his chin so I can see the bruise on his jaw better. It looks angry and a little swollen, and there’s already purple starting to show. I sigh as I rub my thumb over the top of it slightly. Natsu tenses when I do so.

I look up at him and meet his eyes, “this is going to hurt in the morning.”

“It hurts now,” he says and then grins cheekily.

“Yeah, well that’s what happens when you get into fights.” I reply as I start to examine the cut on his cheekbone. This one is longer than the other and it’s still glistening with blood. I sigh, at least it’s not running anymore.

“Natsu, what happened?” My question comes out more like a plea. He says nothing and just looks down. “Why would you do something like this your senior year? Fighting with Sting, over what?”

He still doesn’t say anything and instead juts out his chin and turns his head away.

Hurt, I sit back. My hands pool in my lap and I look down at them; the words are out of my mouth before I can even think not to say them, “It was Lisanna, right?”

Natsu jerks at that and when I look at him again, his eyebrows are scrunched up and his eyes are large with bewilderment. “What does Lisanna have to do with this?”

“Th-the fight, wasn’t it about winning her back?”

At this Natsu actually cringes. Then he winces and grabs his side.

“God No. What gave you that idea?” He asks as he rests back, propped up by pillows.

“But— People were saying— then what was the fight about?” I ask completely in shock. My head reels with this knowledge. I was prepared to step out of the way so Natsu could be happy. But it turns out he wasn’t even thinking about Lisanna during the fight?

Again, he purses his lips and looks away. He shakes his head slightly before leaning his head back and looks at the ceiling, “nothing you need to worry about. Sting was just talking his usual trash.”

I let out a small breath, “Okay, but whatever he said, I’m sure it wasn’t significant enough to fight over. Look at you.” I gesture to his head and ribs, which he’s still nursing.

This time he meets my eyes, “Some things are worth fighting back for.”

I’m caught off guard by the sudden seriousness in his voice and face. I gulp as I look back.

“Yeah. You’re right,” I say, rubbing my knuckle absently.

After a second, a small smile appears on Natsu’s face and he lets his head fall back, “besides, you should see the other guy. He was knocked flat by this badass chick punching him square in the face.”

I smile playfully back, “yeah, well I heard she had a good teacher.”

Natsu’s smile just grows at that. And he settles further into the bed.

I can tell sleep is calling to him again, but before he can pass out, I need to clean and patch up those wounds.

Standing up, I push him lightly, “Come on sleepy bones, you need to get up so I can get those cuts bandaged. Plus, I still need to take a look at your side, I’ve seen you holding it.”

“You just want to see me shirtless.” He smiles up at me cheekily, “what did you say the other night, I had ‘wonderful muscles’?”

My mouth falls open and my cheeks heat at the realization he heard me the night before. As his smirk grows wider, I sputter.

When he starts to laugh, I slip his shoulder and roll my eyes. “Hurry up and get that shirt off, I’m going to see if I can find a first aid kit or something.”

I leave before he can say anything more. As soon as I’m out in the hallway, I start fanning my face. Damn that boy for always making me blush.

“Oh, hi Lucy, what are you doing here?”

I jump at the sudden intrusion of my thoughts.

Romeo stands in the hallway petting Charlie as she sleeps in his arms. At my look he says, “Wendy’s hanging out with her friend Chelia after school today and ask me to look after her cat.”

“Oh,” I say awkwardly, “that’s nice of you.”

He shrugs. “Is Natsu home? I didn’t hear him come in, usually he’s so loud.”

“Uh, yeah. He’s here, but um, actually do you know where I can find a first aid kit? Natsu got into a small fight. He’s fine, just has a few cuts.”

Romeo looks a little shocked by the news and says, “Natsu got into a fight? It’s been years since the last time he fought someone. Huh, anyway, I can get the first aid kit for you, I’ll just bring it to Natsu’s room.”

“Okay, thank you Romeo!” I say as he starts heading down the hall.

He’s a good kid. I smile and go back to where I left Natsu.

When I come back into the room, Natsu’s sitting up on the bed with a pout on his face and shirt still on. His hair and top is disheveled.

I can’t help the laugh that escapes my lips at the sight, “What happened?”

I enter the room completely as Natsu turns to me. “Luce, help,” he whines. “It hurts too much to get my shirt off by myself. Can you do it for me?”

I shake my head and walk over to him as he raises his arms, wincing as they go up.

“You really are a big baby, you know that right?”

He just pouts more. I chuckle and reach out and grab the hem of his shirt. As I start to pull it off my hands run against his sides. The humor is gone from my mind as his skin is exposed.

Those muscles really are wonderful. Hard underneath smooth, warm skin.

By the time I pull the shirt all the way off, Natsu is looking up at me from the bed as I stand over him.

All I want to do is run my hands over his chest, to feel his heartbeat under my palm. Maybe tug at his messy hair and take his lips—

“Here’s the first aid kit, Lucy. Let me—” Romeo says, walking right into the room with a white box. He stops mid-sentence when he sees us.

Everyone’s quiet.

Oh God. There’s me and Natsu. In his room, alone. He’s on the bed, shirtless, facing me. I’m facing him with his shirt in my hand.

This cannot look good.

“Romeo!” I say louder than I meant, “Thank you for bringing the first aid kit.” I step away from Natsu.

He’s gone wide-eyed and still. Hearing his name shakes him out of his shock, though. “No problem,” he replies in a high pitch voice, “le-let me know if you need anything else. Okay. Bye.”

And with that he drops the box onto the bed and makes a speedy escape. I groan, great God only knows what he thinks he walked in on.

Natsu starts laughing. I turn to him and slap his shoulder, “it’s not funny.” But I can’t fight the laugh that rises up in my throat too.

“Yeah, it is.” He says and turns back to me, “so what’s the verdict doctor Lucy?”

“Let me see.” I feel along his sides and ribs. No broken bones, maybe a bruised rib or two but nothing that won’t heal with time and rest.

I tell him this after double checking. “You don’t need to bind them, but they’ll hurt for the next couple of days. Here take some of this medicine, it’ll help with the pain and swelling.” I hand him two tablets that he swallows without problem.

As he does this, I take out a couple of antibacterial wipes and start cleaning his face wounds. With the blood gone, it actually doesn’t look bad. I place a bandage over the cut on his cheekbone but leave the other after cleaning it.

Looking at the bruise, I just apply some soothing bruise cream to the area. After I’m done, I take one last look at the work and nod.

“Alright, you’re all done, Natsu. You can fall asleep now.”

His eyes are already closed by the time he lays back onto the bed. He sighs out a “Thanks Luce.”

I smile fondly at the man I like. “For you Natsu, always. That medication is supposed to make you drowsy to help you sleep, so hopefully you won’t wake up in pain.”

His breathing starts to even out and slow. With one last look at his relaxed, bandaged face, I get up to leave.

But before I make it to the door, his hand reaches out and grabs my wrist.

I look down at him curiously, but his eyes are still shut. “Stay with me until I fall asleep, please?” he asks in a tired breath.

I don’t say anything, just sit down on the desk chair.

He hums when as I lean forward to stroke his hair away from his face with the hand he’s not holding.

After a second he says quietly, “I wanted to show you my test grade before everything happened.”

“How’d it go?” I ask matching his soft volume.

“I got a B.” At this he grins lopsided, obviously very proud and happy.

A smile stretches wide across my face, “Natsu, that is amazing. I’m so proud of all the work you put in to achieve that.”

His smile grows fond and slowly fades as he replies, “it was all thanks to you, Luce. You helped me. You always help me, you help everyone. You’re so kind and smart. And pretty.”

At this I chuckle, “You’re just drowsy Natsu.”

Stifling a yawn, he argues, “No I’m not.”

He turns then, so he’s lying on his side facing me, and peeks his eyes open.

After a second, he leans over to his side table and pulls out the scarf his father gave him. Settling back onto the bed, he runs his hand over the material before draping it over my shoulders.

“Natsu—?” I start but he cuts me off as he falls back onto his side and lays his head on his pillow.

“I want you to have it. As a thank you. For everything, for all of it. Besides it looks good on you.”

“I can’t—”

He cuts me off again falling back into a drowsy stupor, “I wanted to say that to you today. Earlier. Before everything with Sting.”

I stay silent as Natsu falls further into a sleepy haze.

“I wanted to tell you that you deserve to be just as happy as you make everyone else. As happy as you make me. You deserve to be with someone special, someone who’ll treat you special.”

A warmth flows through me when he says this, love and affection fills my heart and I can barely speak when I say, “yeah, that would be nice.”

Natsu’s eyes are already closed by the time I reply and just as he drifts off to sleep for good, he breathes out a sigh, “someone like me.”

I stare at him. Did he just say that? Is he delirious from sleep because of the medication or does he mean it? I take in a breath. When did I start holding it?

Natsu is fast asleep, oblivious to the effect his comment made.

I shake my head, no use freaking out about it right now. I’ll ask him about it tomorrow. He starts snoring softly and just then Happy jumps up onto the bed out of nowhere and curls up on Natsu’s hair. I smile lovingly at them.

I think I’m really falling for this idiot.

“Yeah, Natsu. If I could have someone like you, I think it would be really special.” I say to his sleeping form.

After a second longer, I lean forward and kiss his forehead softly. “Sleep well and get better soon.”

I get up and take the blanket that’s half on the bed, half on the floor and drape it over Natsu’s body.

Once he’s covered, I scratch Happy’s head and move to the door. Shutting off the light, I whisper, “See you tomorrow, hot head.”

As I leave the house, I pull Natsu’s scarf closer to myself.


End file.
